VN Ren'Py Love & Jealousy [Act 3] [Professor Amethyst Games]

[DeviantFun]

I did perform a quick search, it has been brought up exactly in one post in June, guess by who?
I guess i will keep my distance for some time from this thread. I´ll come back when act 3 is public sometime.

Check Al.d post history he brought it up more than once (actually he did some pretty nice analysis overall thanks to his background), but maybe a lot of the discussion was in the L&J private chats i honestly cannot place them here or there.

You seem irritated somehow, I am a bit at a loss at the why.

also, are you sure? only one?
https://f95zone.to/threads/love-jealousy-act-2-professor-amethyst-games.252651/post-18283069
https://f95zone.to/threads/love-jealousy-act-2-professor-amethyst-games.252651/post-17211924
https://f95zone.to/threads/love-jealousy-act-2-professor-amethyst-games.252651/post-18280542

 

[Avaron1974]

My name is Renfield and I am a codependent.

 

[Diosvincenccio]

Vegas and Abby

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Jeanette

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Veronica

Maybe, but some of the things in at least my oppinion where not "minor" at all.

MC and Lacey

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A few last remarks.

The argument that we cant understand the characters, that there are people similar to them in real life, that we arent meant to agree with their decissions or that we are getting frustated because repeated mistakes... Dunno about you, but my frustation comes from the fact that now two acts have become wet paper, that it was all a waste of time because nothing of what happened on them was real, not the same characters at all, different personalities, different motivations, different story.

The Prof is a master in the emotional scenes capable of manipulating players feelings with amazing control. A pro at the drama aspect of the "in the moment" scenes, but pull him away of that, make him connect diferent scenes in a consistent weaved story, and suddenly the thing losses water.

Check your brain at the door, let yourself go in a emotional ride, and its an amazing journey... but the moment you stop, think coldly and analitically try to connect the different pieces of this puzzle, thing got some very big holes in it.

The Prof needs, and i even made it as a suggestion in the Discord section, someone who runs this story by, someone that can "fact check" if the ideas in his head are traslated well into the script, that can advice him and tell him "this can be seen in this way, that can be interpreted badly" someone that can tell him "did you forget that this character has this personality when you writed this?" or "this is contradictory with that... is a mistake or is done intentionally?"

Im not saying that he has to bend to someone else vision or version of his story... just that having someone to run the script by could be a huge safety net and fail safe, helping him avoid "bad ideas", missinterpretations and contradictions, or at least make sure that the script is done as intended, making sure we players have the story as is meant to be, and not trying to figure out what the author meant... Yeah, teacher of mine, sometimes a blue chair is a blue chair, not the expression of the author feelings...

For one last phrase... allow me to poke a little of fun...

" A story of true love, painful jealousy and the difficult journey learning how to heal and forgive. "

And a spy story... dont forget the spy and porn empire angle of it.

 

[Diosvincenccio]

The whole Assumption of mc having PTSD pisses me seriously off!

I never took it as because the characters said it, but because being cheated can cause it in real life. Real life therapyst say it.

And another thing, the therapyst is going step by step of his life... the codepency is only the first mental issue that happened to him, as his narration start to overlap with the present of the game, with the marriage and Lacey actions and discoveries... new mental issues will be diagnosticed if the story is mean to be realistic about the symptoms... PTSD is something that build itself over already existing symptoms.

 

[NewGuy2022]

You are right, this is something that we have to keep in mind when "bashing" act 3, myself included. I do hope we get more from act 4 and on.

I won't disagree with you but I seem to remember reading similar comments after Act 2 and before Act 3. Not from you.

I mean, he is literally breaking down, losing himself, etc... and the story is applauding how well Lacey is doing, how she has grown, how she is taking agency....

As several of us have said, the author admits Lacey is his favorite and I feel as if he has made her the MC now.

The MC has seen the Lacey as she is

He also sees himself as he is. During Act 2 when he was day drunk and skipped work, talking about

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...deep down he knows (en vino veritas). I can't understand why the dev won't let the MC act on that. For me, all the MC needs for redemption is to admit to himself that he's willingly supported those who harmed him (well, the girls, at least) and then take positive steps to remove himself from the toxic situation. What Lacey, Mia, (and now Anna [that hurt a lot], Jeanette, etc.) do; to me the MC won't be redeemed until he takes action for himself.

She doesn't love him, she never did. She NEEDS him for her own well being.

She's the parasite; he's the host. The dynamic is not symbiotic.

The main issue, I think, is that the author fell in love with writing Lacey and fetishizing her damage, while MC is now an afterthought, treated as a problem.
You can see it in the low agency he has in everything that happens, from the KW, to the "reparation day" which was, again, lackluster and mildly infuriating (roofing seems to be the new way to become best friends).

MC issues are not seen from the point of view of "the guy needs to heal because I he is unwell" it is seen more towards " the guy needs to heal because he is a nuisance and we are all tired of it".

Point is, we have some inconsistencies here, not a progression where we are finding out the truth and those were simply plot fake twists. At least from the way I see it so far.

Care to bet the developer blames our Act 1 & 2 recollections on the MC's damaged brain (i.e., he's not remembering what really happened)? Poor Lacey being besmirched by the thoughtless MC's poor memory... I wonder how long until the characters begin to say that the MC needs to heal because he's holding Lacey back from her recovery. Everything is about Lacey.

The rules are intimate, they are something between MC and Lacey, why would a stranger would be entitled to it? Why does MC goes along with it when it took more than twice the time to just do that in front of Lacey?

Lacey cheated on him again, anyone that has more than 2 brain cells or has been in the scene knows full well that what happened in the dungeon is not ok and it is 100% cheating, but he is not allowed to think so, he needs to accept it and stfu.

Because Lacey is the "MC" while the MC is her willing cuck and it's never cheating when she does it (she "loves him", remember?). As for the K, alcohol, etc., I don't buy the notion she isn't responsible for her actions. She knows she's an addict, she knows how badly she acts/reacts under the influence, yet she chooses to use. That's a deliberate choice. She's accountable (if only to me, for what that's worth.)

I am not interested into having an edgy MC that goes around and makes people suffer for the sake of it, he was not written like that and you need to respect the character, but at least the ability to stand up for himself (at least to everyone not named Lacey) and keep them accountable.

Agreed. As fulfilling as tormenting (or worse) the girls would feel in the short term, long term it wouldn't feel right and would harm the MC, I think (his psyche, what's left of it). All he needs to do is stand up, dust himself off, and ride off into the sunset alone. Because these girls are attention hounds and couldn't handle being ignored.

The phrase MC says at that moment "you can't ask for anything ever again" gave me a lot of hope, and yet nothing happened because consequences do not exist.

I really hope this resonates later in the story but don't expect it will; it's too positive for the MC.

 

[NewGuy2022]

Hey,
Literally my first comment ever. I usually never post anything but I find myself wanting to discuss the game so I'd like to address a few of your points because we actually see the game quite differently and that intrigues me. I'm sorry if I mess up the quotes and spoilers... first timer...
It's an awfully long post as well.




Vegas and Abby

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Jeanette

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Kelly

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Veronica

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MC and Lacey

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I appreciate your well thought-out and reasoned responses but I can't help feeling that even you (as the reader) are blaming the MC for what Lacey is doing. Please don't take that as a personal jab (it truly isn't intended that way); it simply ties into my overall view that the developer is doing everything possible to make this entire story the MC's fault. I'm surprised the dev hasn't found a way to make the MC culpable in the abuse Lacey suffered at the hands of her family. I don't mind saying that it angers me a little (and, no, I am not self-inserting).

I guess we won't agree on this and I'm okay with that. I'll continue to read your posts and consider your viewpoints. I enjoy many of the posts in this thread especially when I don't agree with them; they give me additional perspectives to consider.

As for learning how to heal and forgive: to me, coming to realize that you own what you do and what you allow to happen to you is healing. Learning to decide you won't allow free lodging in your brain to the people who tormented you is healing. You might even forgive them. But to truly heal,*you* need to take positive action to ensure the clean break by leaving and cutting off all contact with them. If you had cancer, you'd cut it out or kill it with chemo or radiation; you likely wouldn't choose to learn how to love it.

 

[DeviantFun]

There are also several parts of the aftermath of Vegas that really go and break the camel's back:

I hope many of you remember the fact that Lacey in act 2 asked MC to keep her accountable for her progress and the fact that Lacey recognizes how, after she fucks up MC gets angry but then ends up apologizing, like the good victim that he is and how she manipulates the truth quite often to paint herself as innocent and to keep MC with her.
We can add to that the whole checking in concept pushed in act 1 which fails but it is still there.

Now try to apply this to the Vegas event and the "lessons" Abby is trying to teach (deja vu?).

This is what Abby says actually, which is probably taken from another VN we have not read yet or it is written completely wrong to show that Abby didn't understand a lick:

AB "You hate it when people try and fix the damage they've done."
AB "Because a part of you is so hurt that you don't want to stop holding that over their head."
AB "You know you can't let stuff go."
AB "So, you do what you're doing now."
AB "You push back on people trying to earn your forgiveness."
AB "Because you're not ready to stop punishing them."

So lets recap: Mia tries to end his marriage twice, cheers when his wife gets sexual assaulted, brings drugs to his drug addicted wife, she is forgiven completely not only that, but she is in line for having her "virginity" taken.
Christine works with his main enemy for act 1, even when she had heavy suspicions it could have been a set up, forgiven completely.
Anna hides crucial information about Mia's plan, doesn't warn MC about Lacey seducing Jared, doesn't warn MC about Lacey going to the marketing parties, forgiven completely.
Veronica had to be almost coerced into helping even when Lacey was suggesting suicide, extremely forgiven (it is detailed also in one of the KW choices).
And almost none of these people made a great effort to try and get that forgiveness, so....what are we talking about again?

Now we can move to Lacey, in the suite aftermath, we see a great deal of manipulation going on, from stating that she did not cheat, to saying that flirting to the point of welcoming getting groped was just "getting out of hand".
No accountability whatsoever, a bunch of I don't know, it was the ex, it was the alcohol but one thing is missing: it was never Lacey.
These are not small oopsies or minor fuckups, these are major issues.
This part is particularly glaring:

L "I don't know what to do."
L "I can't tell when you want total honesty from me, or when you need me to protect your feelings."
L "Me finding someone attractive is not an attack on you."

Sure, finding someone attractive is not an attack and Mc might be somewhat too sensitive on that, but flirting aggressively with them and leading them on tho, IS an attack on the marriage and MC, especially when they were supposed to be together, especially on their anniversary trip.
This is a concept that is repeated often: "not an attack on you" but the action definitely is, it is clear, it is plain and simple.

This is a total lack of true accountability, I don't know if the author is writing this on purpose to show Lacey's manipulation or simply has not thought this through, but it is a glaring flaw and a huge step back from act 2.

Adding to the major issues (but this is a writing fuckup more than anything) she will gladly flirt and has her inhibitions lowered, but she spends the day calling MC an ATM guy, so her inhibitions are lowered, she is very high and looking around for attractive guys, but when she sees her husband it is ATM guy!
This is drama for the sake of drama, it is not consistent with the writing of this specific scene, unless the author is telling us that MC is not attractive to her whatsoever, I really hope the prof takes a good look at this part and scratches most of it if not all.

Add to this extremely forced drama that she asks MC if she can go dance, but never to dance with him, so she is fully aware that he is there but for the sake of drama she is actually not aware that he is.... aren't we getting a bit tired about the same usual trope rehashed and reheated like a microwave meal?
If you really wanted to write a scene like this, wouldn't MC dancing with her or her dancing with Mia and Jeanette getting approached by 2 or 3 guys with Lacey being "confused" pulling one in to dance? (getting sandwitched by Mc and the guy foir example? Or being surrounded by a group?).
I am just spitballing here and is quite late so I won't vouch for the idea, but at least we would have gotten a fresh scenario, with MC not knowing how to react or getting pissed.

And now for the biggun'! The BDSM club.
When confronted by MC about her actual wishes of doing a session and having sex with the dickweed guy, Lacey is silent.
She then spins the whole thing saying that she knew it was nothing, just an informative session, thankfully MC, for once calls her out on her shit.

She then tries to hide behind a finger and manipulate MC again, by asking why would he want to dig deep into this since it will hurt him, the answer is obvious, because you just lied and acted badly and you need to be held accountable.
Plus why wouldn't your husband deserve to know the truth? Is there something to hide here? Maybe you do realize that you were not faithful?

MC using the knowledge to hurt himself and thinking that Lacey doesn't love him is not the problem, is Lacey showing that she doesn't love him is the main issue.
And I defended the concept that Lacey truly loves MC from the bottom of her heart, but so far I have to admit, she has little to show for it, very little.

But finally we get an answer:
L "Yes, I was turned on from the show."
L "Yes, I thought that learning more about BDSM stuff would be interesting."
L "Yes, I thought the guy teaching the class was attractive."
L "Yes, I acted like a dumb bitch that was horny, high and drunk about the whole thing."
L "No excuse for any of it."
L "But let me tell you something."
L "Me finding another man attractive does not make you unattractive."

Again, I do not know what warped logic are we using here, this is another concept that is repeated often, if I go and have a fun bondage session at the park fully clothed (which is leagues milder than what Lacey did) and my wife is not ok with it, I cheated, because you cannot remove the underlying sexuality of the thing, does it matter if it makes my wife attractive or unattractive? No.

Again:

L "I swear to you I did not go into that session with any ill intent."
L "I would never have gone through with it, if I thought for a millisecond that I was cheating on you."

But...YOU. JUST. DID. What are we talking about here? Are we living in bizarro world? Cheating is not only achieved by fucking, emotional cheating is a thing (which for some hurts way more) and if there is sexuality involved it is cheating, period.

And now for the best part, this is what our MC learns from Abby:
L "I guess for the first time, we really didn't make any progress."
"Abby's words about holding things over Lacey's head is one of the uglier sides of me, comes to mind."

So now, after all of this, MC is not holding things "over her head", she fucked up and needs to be held accountable and needs to actually and properly show her regret before you can go on, or did we revert to "putting a nice bow on Mc's pain"? I thought this was already explored and actually recognized as manipulation on her part.

Obviously we end up with Mc caving in, but this is expected of the character so no complaints here.

And here comes the doozy, when they go back, at the house tour, Lacey insists that he needs to put boundaries and put his foot down.
Anyone else find this extremely confusing? MC in the conversation in the suite was about to do just that, put his foot down and hold her accountable for her mistakes (if we can all them that, I would call it pure abuse and cheating).

I am pretty tired so I might pick up and pass a comb on Jeanette and Abby too.

But let me say this again, Vegas is a mess, a mess of messages, a mess of writing (essentially repeating what we saw before with minor changes) and I truly think it should be looked at in the future for a full rewrite, since it doesn't hold water: from a stranger pulling the strings, from the recount of the rules, from the drug effects and all the extremely forced drama that does not bring anything to the table aside some fetish appease for the NTR fans.
Now we have 2 failed characters in Mia (still hoping for a very difficult redemption arc) and Abby, plus a failed arc and it is a shame, because without it act 3 is workable.

 

[Lady Lydia]

Look guys you have to cut it out with 'the MC needs to leave Lacey' I mean we are 3 fucking Acts out of 6 from the end, if it happen it would only happen in Act 6, so clearly constantly mentioning it isn't going to change anything because the Prof needs to keep this shit show going for three more Acts. If anything I'd be let down if it did happen Act 6 because unless things go utterly batshit crazy, it can't really get worst than Act 1, so it would feel unsatisfying for the MC to have lived thru 5 more Acts of bullshit before finally choosing to leave her, ironically as I stated before, just about the only scenario I could figure that would finally get the MC leaving would be if its discovered that Lacey is behind the whole plot against herself, all in an attempt to corrupt the MC, as I theorized before, now that could piss the MC off knowing she basically caused all that drama he suffered thru enough for him to leave, anything short than that it would feel senseless, he already went thru worst so why wait so long before finally deciding to leave? So yea I fully expect a Lydia from Fetish Locator reveal for Lacey at the end.

Lacey, look its clear she is the problem, but its clear she'll never truly accept it or act to fix it because the Prof doesn't seem inclined to it, so if she can't change, I repeat an argument I made before, its clear the intent is for her to change the MC, to corrupt him into accepting her being a slut, those that keep saying how she stated that she didn't want to be shared or such... yea how those that look nowadays? Seems she is fine with sleeping around under her full control, maybe the problem is while she told him he has the leash on her she doesn't want to be on leash, that is what she was against, not the sleeping around, she doesn't want him sharing her, but she want to be able to get her slut fix anytime she wants.

So yea people here need to stop thinking of solutions that would end the narrative since those solutions can't happen, it would probably be a better thought experiment to figure out how to solve the current issues without disrupting the narrative. Because you can be sure until Act 6 nothing extreme is going to be done to fix those issues. At best its some meager therapy at worst the MC get numbed to Lacey's actions get corrupted and just learn to be okay with her doing whatever she wants, its the best we'll get until Act 6.

Also let's be real, the MC wouldn't survive leaving Lacey, he went to College and freaked out nearly to suicide and you think he is going to handle leaving for a few years to find himself? No way. He'll keep worrying about her constantly, either how bad she might feel from him abandoning her or if she has returned on the K and is fucking hundreds of men, he'd worry constantly about her, the only way he can separate from her is if he suicide or she get killed by someone else. Anyone that claim that him leaving is a magical solution that is going to solve his issues don't consider his reality, yea sure from our perspective it might seem to be the best idea, but from his perspective its something else entirely, because we don't have the insane attachment to Lacey he has, we can't process things from his way of thinking.

The only way for the MC to leave Lacey would again, either he has a replacement that can keep him going amidst what would be the equivalent to some pretty extreme withdrawal, years of therapy to build him a spine and disentangle himself emotionally from her, things we aren't going to see before the very end in some epilogue either way.

Let's go back to those possible endings, I heard a mention of 7 endings I think... so let's see... MC get killed, Lacey get killed, MC leave and suicide, MC leave Lacey with the use of a replacement girl or girls, MC is able to force Lacey into behaving to not lose their marriage, MC get somewhat corrupted by Lacey and they have a lite BDSM relationship where he get the illusion of control over her and she get to mess around at his direction, MC get corrupted by Lacey and let her be a slut. Ok... after thinking about things for a bit I think those are the only 7 possible endings, if anyone has any other ideas I welcome them, but thinking of how to make this shit show end this is just about the only thing I can fathom, the first two endings would imply a final violent struggle where either of them can die, the next two are the MC leaving Lacey, one without and one with support, the one without would mean leaving to his death and probably Lacey committing suicide herself in some shitty Romeo & Juliet fashion once she discover it happened. The three others are based on the 3 paths we chose in the first Act. Now obviously that is if the Prof meant 7 divergent enough endings. I mean it would be easy to fill in 7 'different' endings if the Prof employ the ME3 approach of slight flavor divergence to the endings.

 

[DeviantFun]

I can't help feeling that even you (as the reader) are blaming the MC for what Lacey is doing.

I feel this is a strong theme, MC is being blamed for not being a 'good victim' (cit.).

I said it before, the whole thing reads like MC is not entitled to his feelings and this is suggested since act 1 when Lacey states that there should be a limit on his punishment of her.

L "Maybe if this were only about the past, then maybe I'd feel a little differently."
L "I'd still understand, but I might feel like we should set a time limit for how long you punish me."

This is her policing what MC should feel, YOU fucked up, don't want to face the music? Walk away.

Well, shall we look it at another way? Does Lacey has the right to be angry at her parents forever or until she feels like it? Her mother seemed eager to talk with her so you can say that her cutting her off is akin to punishment? Is she entitled to do so forever? Shall we set a time limit? We are talking about the past anyway.
I want to see how many would argue that she doesn't have the right to her feelings, she is a victim and she is entitled to a lot.

MC has been abused and betrayed by Lacey, and we are not talking only about the past (where she was fully aware of it), she keeps on doing it right now.
If any of you remember the dialogue about the JD, and how much Lacey spoke of boundaries and how much she is aware of MC limits (another of those clarity moments where Lacey is a relationship guru, I wonder in which gangbang she learnt these things since she never had a relationship or any friends in a relationship), add what is added then by Dianne in act 2 and how she breaks them and then blame MC for it "because he did not stop her".

And yet in act 3 this is exactly what is being told and underlined, MC is the one not putting the right boundaries, MC is the one that "holds things over her head", MC is the bad guy.
At least in act 1 and 2 MC was assured by most of the cast that he is not a bad person, in act 3 not so much.

No one is owed forgiveness, the victim can decide whether forgiveness is granted on their own terms.
And even then forgiveness might not even be on the plate at all, maybe acceptance is the only thing on the plate, and the victim is the only one that can decide that.

Please don't take that as a personal jab (it truly isn't intended that way); it simply ties into my overall view that the developer is doing everything possible to make this entire story the MC's fault. I'm surprised the dev hasn't found a way to make the MC culpable in the abuse Lacey suffered at the hands of her family. I don't mind saying that it angers me a little (and, no, I am not self-inserting).

Remember Anna dialogue after she catches Lacey with Isaac? (I wonder what would have happened if Isaac begged for sex again? )

Lacey is held accountable by her (briefly) and it is made clear how Lacey spins the truth to appear as the victim, to excuse her behaviour and shift blame.
It was a nice clarity moment, and yet it has been forgotten completely.

As for learning how to heal and forgive: to me, coming to realize that you own what you do and what you allow to happen to you is healing. Learning to decide you won't allow free lodging in your brain to the people who tormented you is healing. You might even forgive them. But to truly heal,*you* need to take positive action to ensure the clean break by leaving and cutting off all contact with them. If you had cancer, you'd cut it out or kill it with chemo or radiation; you likely wouldn't choose to learn how to love it.

I won't advocate for a specific healing path, everyone is different, but one thing I am sure about, MC needs to heal for himself, not for Lacey, not for the "friends" or anyone else but for himself.

Strangely enough it is what MC hopes for Lacey, that she heals for herself, not for the benefit of others, not even his own.
MC is not granted this privilege, he needs to heal because he affects others or because his issues have a bad influence on Lacey mental health.
This is obviously a slip up, because the author cares less about him, at least in act 1 we had some moments that blamed Lacey for hurting him (Anna scene at the club), now even Anna has done a full 180 and blames him for being angry for being cheated on because "Lacey was playing by the rules", which is absolutely bonkers, morally corrupt and is filled with victim blaming.

So yea I fully expect a Lydia from Fetish Locator reveal for Lacey at the end.

Which is?

Lacey, look its clear she is the problem, but its clear she'll never truly accept it or act to fix it because the Prof doesn't seem inclined to it, so if she can't change, I repeat an argument I made before, its clear the intent is for her to change the MC, to corrupt him into accepting her being a slut, those that keep saying how she stated that she didn't want to be shared or such... yea how those that look nowadays? Seems she is fine with sleeping around under her full control, maybe the problem is while she told him he has the leash on her she doesn't want to be on leash, that is what she was against, not the sleeping around, she doesn't want him sharing her, but she want to be able to get her slut fix anytime she wants.

The threesome was a very problematic scene for many reasons (yet I am happy that I got the participants right in my prediction), as again it breaks what we know about her.
So her being shared stopped being a sign that MC didn't care about her and is just a minor thing, while it was one of the bedrocks of their relationship, a cornerstone of her personality.

It was obviously added for the sake of it, there was no buildup and it is treated by Lacey without a care in the world, yet when the topic was breached in the past aftercare between them was mentioned and that she did not want it at all unless requested specifically by MC.

MC has a choice to go with it or not, but where are his feelings about it? Even in a healthy relationship a partner that is offered something like this point blank might be hesitant and would feel something is wrong.
Even if he says no, wouldn't MC be suspicious? Wouldn't he be jealous and think that Lacey wants to be with Lorenzo? (at least this is how I would see MC act compared to his past behaviour).

I think the prof started to care less and less about writing MC feelings he wanted this scene, so the characters had to bend for the sake of it.
The possibilities were endless, look at how MC tries to help even his worst enemy Isaac, Lorenzo could have pleaded to him and Lacey (or to Lacey to then plead with MC) have some emotions and some willingness to help stem from MC seeing how Lorenzo is damaged.

Also let's be real, the MC wouldn't survive leaving Lacey, he went to College and freaked out nearly to suicide and you think he is going to handle leaving for a few years to find himself? No way. He'll keep worrying about her constantly, either how bad she might feel from him abandoning her or if she has returned on the K and is fucking hundreds of men, he'd worry constantly about her, the only way he can separate from her is if he suicide or she get killed by someone else. Anyone that claim that him leaving is a magical solution that is going to solve his issues don't consider his reality, yea sure from our perspective it might seem to be the best idea, but from his perspective its something else entirely, because we don't have the insane attachment to Lacey he has, we can't process things from his way of thinking.

I think a lot of folks got their hopes up with the title of the act "learning to let go" and came at the conclusion that Lacey was the source of pain so MC could have let her go temporarily so he could put a few step forward on learning to be self reliant.

Frankly, it would have been way better compared to what we got, there was a high possibility of drama and deep emotions to come out from both Lacey and MC.
A lot of learning could have happened for both of them and they would have grown together (separated but together, I hope you get what I mean).
I cannot stress enough on how act 3 falls flat, with the dumpster fire that is Vegas to the abusive behaviour of MC "friends" (looking at you Anna, Jeanette and Veronica).

 

[Lady Lydia]

I feel this is a strong theme, MC is being blamed for not being a 'good victim' (cit.).

I said it before, the whole thing reads like MC is not entitled to his feelings and this is suggested since act 1 when Lacey states that there should be a limit on his punishment of her.

L "Maybe if this were only about the past, then maybe I'd feel a little differently."
L "I'd still understand, but I might feel like we should set a time limit for how long you punish me."

This is her policing what MC should feel, YOU fucked up, don't want to face the music? Walk away.

Well, shall we look it at another way? Does Lacey has the right to be angry at her parents forever or until she feels like it? Her mother seemed eager to talk with her so you can say that her cutting her off is akin to punishment? Is she entitled to do so forever? Shall we set a time limit? We are talking about the past anyway.
I want to see how many would argue that she doesn't have the right to her feelings, she is a victim and she is entitled to a lot.

MC has been abused and betrayed by Lacey, and we are not talking only about the past (where she was fully aware of it), she keeps on doing it right now.
If any of you remember the dialogue about the JD, and how much Lacey spoke of boundaries and how much she is aware of MC limits (another of those calrity moments where Lacey is a relationship guru), add what is added then by Dianne in act 2 and how she breaks them and then blame MC for it "because he did not stop her".

And yet in act 3 this is exactly what is being told and underlined, MC is the one not putting the right boundaries, MC is the one that "holds things over her head", MC is the bad guy.
At least in act 1 and 2 MC was assured by most of the cast that he is not a bad person, in act 3 not so much.

No one is owed forgiveness, the victim can decide whether forgiveness is granted on their own terms.
And even then forgiveness might not even be on the plate at all, maybe acceptance is the only thing on the plate, and the victim is the only one that can decide that.

Remember Anna dialogue after she catches Lacey with Isaac? (I wonder what would have happened if Isaac begged for sex again? )

Lacey is held accountable by her (briefly) and it is made clear how Lacey spins the truth to appear as the victim, to excuse her behaviour and shift blame.
It was a nice clarity moment, and yet it has been forgotten completely.

I won't advocate for a specific healing path, everyone is different, but one thing I am sure about, MC needs to heal for himself, not for Lacey, not for the "friends" or anyone else but for himself.

Strangely enough it is what MC hopes for Lacey, that she heals for herself, not for the benefit of others, not even his own.
MC is not granted this privilege, he needs to heal because he affects others or because his issues have a bad influence on Lacey mental health.
This is obviously a slip up, because the author cares less about him, at least in act 1 we had some moments that blamed Lacey for hurting him (Anna scene at the club), now even Anna has done a full 180 and blames him for being angry for being cheated on because "Lacey was playing by the rules", which is absolutely bonkers, morally corrupt and is filled with victim blaming.

Which is?

The threesome was a very problematic scene for many reasons (yet I am happy that I got the participants right in my prediction), as again it breaks what we know about her.
So her being shared stopped being a sign that MC didn't care about her and is just a minor thing, while it was one of the bedrocks of their relationship, a cornerstone of her personality.

It was obviously added for the sake of it, there was no buildup to it and it is treated by Lacey without a care in the world, yet when the topic was breached in the past aftercare between them was mentioned.

MC has a choice to go with it or not, but where are his feelings about it? Even in a healthy relationship a partner that is offered something like this point blank might be hesitant and would feel something is wrong.
Even if he says no, wouldn't MC be suspicious? Wouldn't he be jealous and think that Lacey wants to be with Lorenzo? (at least this is how I would see MC act compared to his past behaviour).

I think the prof started to care less and less about writing MC feelings he wanted this scene, so the characters had to bend for the sake of it.
The possibilities were endless, look at how MC tries to help even his worst enemy Isaac, Lorenzo could have pleaded to him and Lacey (or to Lacey to then plead with MC) have some emotions and some willingness to help stem from MC seeing how Lorenzo is damaged.

I think a lot of folks got their hopes up with the title of the act "learning to let go" and came at the conclusion that Lacey was the source of pain so MC could have let her go temporarily so he could put a few step forward on learning to be self reliant.

Frankly, it would have been way better compared to what we got, there was a high possibility of drama and deep emotions to come out from both Lacey and MC.
A lot of learning could have happened for both of them and they would have grown together (separated but together, I hope you get what I mean).
I cannot stress enough on how act 3 falls flat, with the dumpster fire that is Vegas to the abusive behaviour of MC "friends" (looking at you Anna, Jeanette and Veronica).

Alright so first, Lydia from Fetish Locator, the reveal was that she created the whole Fetish Locator program and while the MC was desperately trying to get out of it without facing potentially disastrous consequences she just sit by enjoyed herself, because even if she was the main LI she also was something of a cuckquean and very much a corrupt pervert that enjoyed people partaking in all sorts of sexual activities and kinks around her, so she was all in for the MC of that game getting more sexually corrupted and partaking in more sexual and kinky activities, until she got caught at the end when she went to take it down because the MC and his girls were working hard trying to track it down and they got her red handed, now obviously to alleviate the blame the Dev of that game said someone else had made the program for her and sorta kept it running, but clearly she was the one to initiate it and that stood by as more and more people got caught in it.

About the threesome, well its a let down that one for sure, I was hoping at least Lacey would have some vague sense of trying to give back to the MC and get him into a threesome with another girls before moving on to asking for a threesome with some other guy, but as I feared she went straight for a threesome for her satisfaction rather than his.

Finally about 'learning to let go' the thing is their are two options for this expression, one which many of you guys kept thinking it was going to be, namely the MC learning to letting go of Lacey, and the one I knew pretty much from the get go it was going to be, the MC learning to let go of his jealousy & possessiveness, the first is about him moving into a more emotionally healthy mindset, the second is about basically overlooking his own interests in favor of Lacey, just letting her do whatever she wants.

 

[DeviantFun]

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About the threesome, well its a let down that one for sure, I was hoping at least Lacey would have some vague sense of trying to give back to the MC and get him into a threesome with another girls before moving on to asking for a threesome with some other guy, but as I feared she went straight for a threesome for her satisfaction rather than his.

Spooooileeeeeers!

You are thinking about it too deeply, it was not for Lacey satisfaction, it was supposedly to help Lorenzo but honestly it just feels tacked on.
I mean first threesome, MC has even a choice in the KW about it, it should have some weight some power behind it some care from Lacey, instead is for the sake of Lorenzo.
Act 3 feels very disjointed.

Finally about 'learning to let go' the thing is their are two options for this expression, one which many of you guys kept thinking it was going to be, namely the MC learning to letting go of Lacey, and the one I knew pretty much from the get go it was going to be, the MC learning to let go of his jealousy & possessiveness, the first is about him moving into a more emotionally healthy mindset, the second is about basically overlooking his own interests in favor of Lacey, just letting her do whatever she wants.

I mean the options are plentyful it could mean let go of his life as well for example.

I do not think the objective was to show that he should let go of his possessiveness and jealousy per se, but I have to agree with you that the message of act 3 got pretty yanked and sounds more like you said, MC having to stfu and accept that he doesn't have a right to his feelings.

 

[Lady Lydia]

Thanks

Spooooileeeeeers!

You are thinking about it too deeply, it was not for Lacey satisfaction, it was supposedly to help Lorenzo but honestly it just feels tacked on.
I mean first threesome, MC has even a choice in the KW about it, it should have some weight some power behind it some care from Lacey, instead is for the sake of Lorenzo.
Act 3 feels very disjointed.

I mean the options are plentyful it could mean let go of his life as well for example.

I do not think the objective was to show that he should let go of his possessiveness and jealousy per se, but I have to agree with you that the message of act 3 got pretty yanked and sounds more like you said, MC having to stfu and accept that he doesn't have a right to his feelings.

I feel personally when the Prof said that they didn't like NTR, I think what they didn't like about it was the loss, the notion that the partner once corrupted should just abandon their partner to engage fully into a life of depravity. Now effectively speaking the MC & Lacey were already partner before College, than she left got corrupted, but chose to come back, unlike the typical NTR arc you see nowadays where the partner doesn't come back. Now having come back corrupted from College, she is trying to corrupt the MC so that she'll be able to go back to her College days depravity while having him alongside her. If like I think its the objective of the Prof, well my take on 'learning to let go' make complete sense, since its about Lacey turning the MC into sexually open & kinky individual, it has nothing to do with his wishes and desires, and entirely about her wishes and desires.

Any notions here of 'healing' is in the optic of healing his past wounds so he'll be better able to adapt to this new reality, not healing them in a way that would make him a normal mentally healthy individual but healing them in a way to enable him to be able to become sexually open & kinky. While healing on Lacey's side is more along the lines of ironically just the same, for her to learn to let go of her jealousy & possessiveness, so that she'll better be enjoy her sexually open & kinky desired lifestyle with the MC, rather than in spite of the MC as she does now, any progress she has is purely in optic of making her willing to let the MC enjoy a similar lifestyle with other women, not actually develop a normal relationship with him.

 

[SayoraSaint]

Look guys you have to cut it out with 'the MC needs to leave Lacey' I mean we are 3 fucking Acts out of 6 from the end, if it happen it would only happen in Act 6, so clearly constantly mentioning it isn't going to change anything because the Prof needs to keep this shit show going for three more Acts. If anything I'd be let down if it did happen Act 6 because unless things go utterly batshit crazy, it can't really get worst than Act 1, so it would feel unsatisfying for the MC to have lived thru 5 more Acts of bullshit before finally choosing to leave her, ironically as I stated before, just about the only scenario I could figure that would finally get the MC leaving would be if its discovered that Lacey is behind the whole plot against herself, all in an attempt to corrupt the MC, as I theorized before, now that could piss the MC off knowing she basically caused all that drama he suffered thru enough for him to leave, anything short than that it would feel senseless, he already went thru worst so why wait so long before finally deciding to leave? So yea I fully expect a Lydia from Fetish Locator reveal for Lacey at the end.

Lacey, look its clear she is the problem, but its clear she'll never truly accept it or act to fix it because the Prof doesn't seem inclined to it, so if she can't change, I repeat an argument I made before, its clear the intent is for her to change the MC, to corrupt him into accepting her being a slut, those that keep saying how she stated that she didn't want to be shared or such... yea how those that look nowadays? Seems she is fine with sleeping around under her full control, maybe the problem is while she told him he has the leash on her she doesn't want to be on leash, that is what she was against, not the sleeping around, she doesn't want him sharing her, but she want to be able to get her slut fix anytime she wants.

So yea people here need to stop thinking of solutions that would end the narrative since those solutions can't happen, it would probably be a better thought experiment to figure out how to solve the current issues without disrupting the narrative. Because you can be sure until Act 6 nothing extreme is going to be done to fix those issues. At best its some meager therapy at worst the MC get numbed to Lacey's actions get corrupted and just learn to be okay with her doing whatever she wants, its the best we'll get until Act 6.

Also let's be real, the MC wouldn't survive leaving Lacey, he went to College and freaked out nearly to suicide and you think he is going to handle leaving for a few years to find himself? No way. He'll keep worrying about her constantly, either how bad she might feel from him abandoning her or if she has returned on the K and is fucking hundreds of men, he'd worry constantly about her, the only way he can separate from her is if he suicide or she get killed by someone else. Anyone that claim that him leaving is a magical solution that is going to solve his issues don't consider his reality, yea sure from our perspective it might seem to be the best idea, but from his perspective its something else entirely, because we don't have the insane attachment to Lacey he has, we can't process things from his way of thinking.

The only way for the MC to leave Lacey would again, either he has a replacement that can keep him going amidst what would be the equivalent to some pretty extreme withdrawal, years of therapy to build him a spine and disentangle himself emotionally from her, things we aren't going to see before the very end in some epilogue either way.

Let's go back to those possible endings, I heard a mention of 7 endings I think... so let's see... MC get killed, Lacey get killed, MC leave and suicide, MC leave Lacey with the use of a replacement girl or girls, MC is able to force Lacey into behaving to not lose their marriage, MC get somewhat corrupted by Lacey and they have a lite BDSM relationship where he get the illusion of control over her and she get to mess around at his direction, MC get corrupted by Lacey and let her be a slut. Ok... after thinking about things for a bit I think those are the only 7 possible endings, if anyone has any other ideas I welcome them, but thinking of how to make this shit show end this is just about the only thing I can fathom, the first two endings would imply a final violent struggle where either of them can die, the next two are the MC leaving Lacey, one without and one with support, the one without would mean leaving to his death and probably Lacey committing suicide herself in some shitty Romeo & Juliet fashion once she discover it happened. The three others are based on the 3 paths we chose in the first Act. Now obviously that is if the Prof meant 7 divergent enough endings. I mean it would be easy to fill in 7 'different' endings if the Prof employ the ME3 approach of slight flavor divergence to the endings.

I know the solution.

Let's recall the classic - 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'.

best way 'solve' all problems lobotomy for Mc.

 

[funnythings3785]

I feel personally when the Prof said that they didn't like NTR, I think what they didn't like about it was the loss, the notion that the partner once corrupted should just abandon their partner to engage fully into a life of depravity. Now effectively speaking the MC & Lacey were already partner before College, than she left got corrupted, but chose to come back, unlike the typical NTR arc you see nowadays where the partner doesn't come back. Now having come back corrupted from College, she is trying to corrupt the MC so that she'll be able to go back to her College days depravity while having him alongside her. If like I think its the objective of the Prof, well my take on 'learning to let go' make complete sense, since its about Lacey turning the MC into sexually open & kinky individual, it has nothing to do with his wishes and desires, and entirely about her wishes and desires.

Any notions here of 'healing' is in the optic of healing his past wounds so he'll be better able to adapt to this new reality, not healing them in a way that would make him a normal mentally healthy individual but healing them in a way to enable him to be able to become sexually open & kinky. While healing on Lacey's side is more along the lines of ironically just the same, for her to learn to let go of her jealousy & possessiveness, so that she'll better be enjoy her sexually open & kinky desired lifestyle with the MC, rather than in spite of the MC as she does now, any progress she has is purely in optic of making her willing to let the MC enjoy a similar lifestyle with other women, not actually develop a normal relationship with him.

I hope this isn't the case... this would be the "cuck" resolution I was concerned about.

This would really cause me to rethink my desire to finish it and I am willing to accept a tragedy ending, but this type of ending is really... just a typical NTR story when all is said and done and is it really that much different than the other slop out there?

At this point, if it is like you describe, it really isn't far off from some of the Hangover Cat games (A promise left unkept and Aya offshoot) which uses completely retarded story progressions to force the MC into compliance to a direction entirely to the FC/Antagonist benefit.

If the professor actually intends this, I would lose a lot of respect for him.

As it is now, the problem with the story is it is all over the place, inconsistencies, characters are disconnected between acts, themes are confused, etc... which shows more... well... disorganization and inline with the description by DeviantFun concerning the professors writing habits. That I can forgive, providing he can get a handle on things, but... this? Yeah, nope, it stops being a story and ends up just being a kink fantasy similar to the other NTR games.

This story has a lot of potential to be an amazing evaluation of the topics and characters involved, but if it ends up only respecting one side (ie the FC) using the rest as props, it becomes typical kink garbage.

I sincerely hope you are wrong in your assessment.

 

[funnythings3785]

I know the solution.

Let's recall the classic - 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'.

best way 'solve' all problems lobotomy for Mc.

That is why I brought up the concept of him losing his memory completely as it concerns the instigators (Lacey, Mia, and those directly connected to the issues he is having). It takes all the power away from them over him and allows the MC to assess things from a healthy mind state.

He could even re-explore the various information about Lacey/Mia past, their actions over the time, etc... but it would be more from a neutral observer position, without the shock, simply a logical evaluation of the information.

Consider the mind state of the MC viewing the "college Lacey" from Mia without all of the baggage of the abuse and mental anguish he had from the past. He would evaluate it from the perspective of a normal person, much like some of the girls did who found out about Lacey's past or were present during the cucking incident or witnessed various actions by her.

Their initial reaction and state was not one clouded by the weight he carried and the reaction was much different.

Imagine the MC being able to evaluate Lacey, Mia, even the others actions with a sound mind state? Even being the compassionate, caring, emotionally aware guy he is, the reaction would be different, the assessment would be more clear and in fact, consider that he would be a stranger, seeing how they all treated anther, this MC who apparently "loved" Lacey, Mia, etc...

What would he say? How would he react and treat them? He is empathetic, but this time... it would be for someone else (his old self) and that might not bode well for the offenders, and at best it would set the stage for him to act with complete agency, freely without the baggage. Normal MC gets to assess the Damaged MCs situation and through this, maybe... this will cause him to hold them all accountable and through this... their changes (they can no longer manipulate or have any control over him) eventually allow him to converge the two bringing him back to whole again, but now with the means to heal himself.

Now that... could be an Act or two of progression and it would also allow him to better deal with a barrage of attacks from the antagonist in the process, to eventually come to a final resolution in the last act of various paths.

Yeah, I know... that isn't going to happen... MC is a prop here, always has been.

 

[Sayora]

Unfortunately, I haven't seen Act 3 yet. But judging by the posts here, it'll be fun.

However, I wanted to say that if this VN is really about lacey, then I'll probably stop there.
The story of a whore being cured, especially at the expense of others, is uninteresting and even disgusting to me.

 

[Avaron1974]

Unfortunately, I haven't seen Act 3 yet. But judging by the posts here, it'll be fun.

However, I wanted to say that if this VN is really about lacey, then I'll probably stop there.
The story of a whore being cured, especially at the expense of others, is uninteresting and even disgusting to me.

It's been about Lacey from the start.

 

[DeviantFun]

There is another issue of act 3 that really throws me off:

the meeting of the three exes.

Starting with the easy one, Lacey had one rule in college: No emotional attachments Mia, that's the rule.
It is clearly stated how she kept everyone at an arm's length and would push people away, not only that put to push them FIRMLY away.

But the meeting during the painting tells an opposite story that completely smashes the narrative.
She wanted them to care for her, how did not MC pick this up? And the narrative is not broken only there.

Everything we know about Lorenzo and her relationship with him is spun on it's head.
In the previous acts we know he treated Lacey well (from Mia) we know he was extremely thankful to Lacey (from Lacey) and that she had a lot of fun with him and found him adorable.

We now discover that Lacey decided to ghost him because she was unable to deal with his feelings and not because of the rule she set so her heart would be only for MC (with the big reveal that her heart was not for MC either, big misstep here) and that Lorenzo never treated her nicely, which goes against what both Mia and HERSELF have stated in the past (She literally said he was nicer than the others so he HAD to do something nice sometimes, no?).

This is retconning a lot, but wait until we get to Stephen with a ph.

A bit of an intro for him, WHY does he have to work at Lacey's company? Couldn't he be a customer of Brimleys that needs to interact with the art department? (you could have kept all the interactions almost intact).
There is only one city and 2 companies to find work in? It does get a bit too ridicolous.
Also it would have been way cooler if he were to be introduced by Veronica, but in any case I digress.

Stephen is described as really nice, else Lacey would not be able to deal with it, her second time with him is one of her favourite sex memories.
Not only that, but Mia HER ROOMMATE WHO LIVED WITH HER, did not even see her use K at all during that period, yet Lacey now complains to Stephen that she had to take "bumps" multiple times a day AND that Stephen was a user too (which had to stop because he couldn't even get decent grades, so now with the professors reveal we can desume how Lacey graduated).
Granted, now Lacey also says that Stephen was nice only when he tried.

But now we see that Lacey actually yearned for him to ask her out and do nice stuff for her...but wasn't the rule no emotional attachments? Didn't she say to MC, no boyfriends because I wasn't in the right space?

Isaac is much of the same (even if minor since it is full oh phase 3), we keep seeing his story change slightly every act, from having a connection (which means he was on the same level as MC, since Lacey only had a connection with him instead of love thanks to the recent retcon) and Lacey caring for him (her words, not mine) to again painting it as she never had any fun.
Do you guys remember that she wanted to leave with him? I guess she doesn't.
Or do you remember that she says that being with Isaac meant something to her? I guess she doesn't.
She also states that the reason she left was because she loved MC...but now we know it was not true.

So anyway, in the pursuit to separate Lacey from her past I think the author created a lot of inconcistencies that are really hard to reconcile with the addition of the big eraser which is the reveal that she never loved MC.

 

[Sayora]

It's been about Lacey from the start.

I disagree.
If the story had been about lacey from the start, I would have finished with her much earlier and wouldn't have worried about MC. I still have doubts about the author's motives.

So far, it's only clear to me that he definitely considers her good and worthy of forgiveness. (Which is, of course, very strange, given his own story, where he portrays her as a horrible, trashy creature.) However, this is one of those rhetorical devices where a situation is brought to the point of absurdity only to then lower the temperature and exclaim, "See, it's not as bad as it could have been?"

 

[Doomly]

You are getting things wrong here, and also making some personal assumptions..... see notes

There is another issue of act 3 that really throws me off:

the meeting of the three exes.

Starting with the easy one, Lacey had one rule in college: No emotional attachments Mia, that's the rule.
It is clearly stated how she kept everyone at an arm's length and would push people away, not only that put to push them FIRMLY away.

But the meeting during the painting tells an opposite story that completely smashes the narrative.
She wanted them to care for her, how did not MC pick this up? And the narrative is not broken only there.

[Reply] it is never stated "she wanted them to care for her"...just her wanting acknowledgment that they were using her and never cared about her or what she was going threw, there is a big difference between those two. You are just injecting personal perception here.

Everything we know about Lorenzo and her relationship with him is spun on it's head.
In the previous acts we know he treated Lacey well (from Mia) we know he was extremely thankful to Lacey (from Lacey) and that she had a lot of fun with him and found him adorable.

We now discover that Lacey decided to ghost him because she was unable to deal with his feelings and not because of the rule she set so her heart would be only for MC (with the big reveal that her heart was not for MC either, big misstep here) and that Lorenzo never treated her nicely, which goes against what both Mia and HERSELF have stated in the past (She literally said he was nicer than the others so he HAD to do something nice sometimes, no?).

[Reply] agreed, but this is another example of mia not being on the same page as lacey back in those days (there are earlier examples of how both percieved things very differently that whole junior year) and just being "nicer than the others" is very different than treating her nicely. In fact, it is never stated her treated her badly, just that they both had very different views of what their time together ment individually.

This is retconning a lot, but wait until we get to Stephen with a ph.

A bit of an intro for him, WHY does he have to work at Lacey's company? Couldn't he be a customer of Brimleys that needs to interact with the art department? (you could have kept all the interactions almost intact).
There is only one city and 2 companies to find work in? It does get a bit too ridicolous.
Also it would have been way cooler if he were to be introduced by Veronica, but in any case I digress.

Stephen is described as really nice, else Lacey would not be able to deal with it, her second time with him is one of her favourite sex memories.
Not only that, but Mia HER ROOMMATE WHO LIVED WITH HER, did not even see her use K at all during that period, yet Lacey now complains to Stephen that she had to take "bumps" multiple times a day AND that Stephen was a user too (which had to stop because he couldn't even get decent grades, so now with the professors reveal we can desume how Lacey graduated).
Granted, now Lacey also says that Stephen was nice only when he tried.

[Reply] you are getting things wrong here.i don't recall it ever being stated mia never saw her use k at all during that period (unless it is and i missed it) In fact in earlier chapters it is confirmed she started using alcohol and k before even before her junior year, and junior year is when stephen happened, so naturally she was using during this time....

But now we see that Lacey actually yearned for him to ask her out and do nice stuff for her...but wasn't the rule no emotional attachments? Didn't she say to MC, no boyfriends because I wasn't in the right space?

[Reply] Again, it is never stated that she "yearned for him to ask her out" just that he didn't care about her, and if he did he would have done those things. You are just injecting personal perception here.

Isaac is much of the same (even if minor since it is full oh phase 3), we keep seeing his story change slightly every act, from having a connection (which means he was on the same level as MC, since Lacey only had a connection with him instead of love thanks to the recent retcon) and Lacey caring for him (her words, not mine) to again painting it as she never had any fun.
Do you guys remember that she wanted to leave with him? I guess she doesn't.
Or do you remember that she says that being with Isaac meant something to her? I guess she doesn't.
She also states that the reason she left was because she loved MC...but now we know it was not true.

[Reply] this is kinda true, but you are percieving things different than what the story states.
she stated they did have a connection of sorts, and she did care for him/ment something to her in a weird twisted way, but never loved him. Her wanting to leave with him was stated to be her kinda giving up thinking this is the best it would get for her/all she was ever going to be in her broken state at that moment.

So anyway, in the pursuit to separate Lacey from her past I think the author created a lot of inconcistencies that are really hard to reconcile with the addition of the big eraser which is the reveal that she never loved MC.