People in the discord really liked Orion. I haven’t played him personally cause male ROs aren’t my thing, but in summary, Orion starts opening up. I personally still like Seven a lot. We get to see some of what’s in that mixed up head of theirs, and some semi sweet things. People also really like G or V but mostly G because you got to see a little bit of the real them.
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At this point I’m going to kidnap Blake and seal my vow with him lmao 
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Not really. What I’ve seen between past Seven and MC really makes me love Seven. But knowing what they could be just makes Seven’s vitriol that much worse for me.
At the start, I actually intended my main MC to romance Seven. First, it was as ex lovers, but that path disgusts me, to be honest. Then, I decided ex besties.
Unfortunately, Seven’s behavior doesn’t really change for that. It’s all hatred, all the time, with no letting up unless you choose to ride the bus with them–in which case, you get “I sleep with Avina every night, and they’re superior to you, hahahahaha!” rammed down your throat. Also unacceptable.
Really, if we got a bit more of non-viper Seven, a bit of Seven suffering (instead of being on a pedestal all the time), and less Avina/Savina, I would probably be more charitable in my views of Seven. But we don’t. Not yet, anyway.
What will be the deciding factor for me in liking the character or going to my deathbed hating him with an undying passion will be how long it takes to get there, and whether he gets knocked off that pedestal the narrative has put him on. It already feels dragged out due to the sheer number of words we have so far in these two chapters. Much longer and it will reach the point of no return for me. If chapter 3 starts showing a change in Seven, and maybe a bit of failure for him instead of constant success, though? I will probably start liking Seven more.
But Savina? And Avina? They can fuck the hell off. There’s nothing that will make me like those two around each other and nothing that will make me like Avina at all, at this point. I find the character’s saintly Mary Sue presentation nauseating.
G and Orion. I freaking love both of them now. As for why…
Without giving actual spoilers, there is a scene with G I had been dying to have for my MC, and we got it. And it was glorious. Plus, we got to see a different side of G, one that I respected, as did my MC.
With Orion, again we get to see another side of him. And there are a couple of small scenes that just… 
I get the feeling that this competition is breaking down some of Orion’s walls because he feels out of control. And, much like what happened with G, it’s glorious.
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To be honest, it’s really bloody annoying how MC and Seven’s interactions are constantly ruined or interrupted by Avina. In the bus it felt like we were so close to the actual breakthrough and at least a chance to work on what happened, but no, Avina gets to come in and go all “Seven, sweetie, is this meanie gangsta rapper threatening your fragile ego?”.
Their path should be messy and hard for both sides, but Avina feels like a cheap way to implement tension.
I would much rather prefer Seven serving as MC’s foil that is a good singer, sure, but is extremely isolated from everyone else in his group because he can’t get over MC. A man who willingly pushes away everyone but the man / woman / person he bitterly hates, a man so naturally self-destructive that he can’t really hold any substantial relationships with other people.
Him longing for MC and constantly trying to get their attention with some actually quiet and nice moments (or, hell, some more Seven PoVs) would sell his character to me without a necessity to headcanon in the cement of the relationships myself. And no bloody Avina constantly breaking the tension. Wasn’t funny in Wayhaven’s Book 1, isn’t funny here.
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I understand your points and honestly don’t think there’s anything wrong with portraying Seven this way, since at the end of the day reading is a very subjective thing and people perceive things differently (which, like I said in the past, it’s fun.)
The only thing I’m on the fence on is Seven being an evil lord, because to me their attempts to get back at MC feel like early 2000s blonde cheerleader evil character rather than something worse (and I’m not saying Sev’s attitude is good, since at the end of the day it’s still hurtful for both the MC and themselves lol.)
I’m not able to see them as this irredeemable asshat simply for that. Although, I will admit that if they end up being A 2.0 (alas it’s going to take 500 years to have a resolution), I might jump off the Seven train. I enjoy the dynamic etc etc, but I hate dragged out things (while also hating too quick of a kiss and make up.)
As for Avina, that will heavily depend on what they do in the game. I honestly don’t care about asks or patreon snippets, because if it’s not in the book I’m reading, then that information doesn’t exist in my brain. Do I like them atm? No. Will I hate them if they end up like a stereotypical evil side piece? Yes.
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Griffin. Which was a huuuuge surprise to me as prior to this update they were like my 4th favourite.
The reason is pretty much one scene. I know it sounds cliche but it changed so much for my mc. I literally gasped at my phone screen haha. Prior to this I was a sevenmancer but my mc was flirting with other ROs…
This update made me see a different side to Griffin and idk yeah I just loved it. Can’t explain it really. It’s a certain choice and my mc was done for 
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I’m unable to feel any sympathy whatsoever for Seven, at this point. I think part of it is that he’s such a Gary Stu that everyone is coddling. If the narrative is constantly coddling him, and he’s constantly worshiped and ranked #1 with no competition, why the hell should I, as a reader, feel sorry for him?
It’s a stark contrast between him and G. G has an entourage of people doting on him, and he’s a charmer, but people get fed up with his shit and Viktor, in particular, seems to take glee in shitting on him. He’s got Blake out to destroy him, a wife he doesn’t treat so well and doesn’t communicate with, and a drinking problem, but he’s got a good heart beneath it all. So it’s easy to sympathize with him, because he doesn’t have the narrative propping him up constantly. Unlike Seven, who’s the bestest at everything (except singing) and loved by all, and already considered the winner of this thing before it’s ever started.
This would be leagues better than having the guard dog Avina foisted on us constantly.
But Seven is, ultimately, a clingy child and needs someone to be there 24/7, holding them and protecting them and telling them how great and perfect they are, and that Seven is never at fault for anything. So it makes sense they would leech onto someone, and given Avina seems to have had a thing for Seven from day 1 (and, according to a patreon writing, wanted the control over Seven that MC used to have), it makes sense that it’s Avina.
Unfortunately, it also makes sense that obsessed Avina will rush in any time the MC is in Seven’s vicinity. Just makes me hate them more, though.
I think we should get used to Avina serving as a foil for a long time…
I don’t think he’s actually evil. But he is an asshole, and intentionally emotionally abusive to the MC. In fact, it seems he goes out of his way to hurt the MC. While that isn’t “evil lord” behavior, it’s not the behavior of someone who is a good person, especially when the target of their vileness is being nothing but nice to them.
I don’t believe I said they were irredeemable? What I did say was that my ability to actually like this character depends on a great deal on how much of the story they behave like the leader of “mean girls” without varying their routine. Mix in some more softer moments, and moments where there’s a connection? Then sure, I will like Seven more.
I also pointed out that less of Mary Sue/Gary Stu Seven would help. It’d be nice to see Seven suffer for a change, instead of them just being a big bully and nothing bad ever happens to them, while they coast through the competition ranked at #1 with everyone kissing their ass. That’s the other half of my problem with Seven, and it’s a huge one.
Oh, Avina will never be evil. They are a saint, obviously. Another Mary Sue, just like Seven (at the moment). 
Same here. I literally squealed. G is my favorite, at this point, with Orion a very, very, very close second.
And that one thing with Orion made me jaw drop (and made me giggle), which is why I’m making a MC specifically for Orion.
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I think it could have been handled a lot better if MC slowly eased him on the matter. Seven during the romance is incredibly clingy, no doubt about it, but I think he can be independent and can actually perceive that he’s being wrong, he just supresses it because dealing with it is too hard.
I can’t believe he doesn’t know that he’s hurting his former boyfriend and I can’t believe he doesn’t understand it either.
But to be honest, I’m much more interested in how he’d deal with the fallout without Avina. He’s not talkative, he’s combative, he’s talented, yet talent can’t really fix a shitty personality, he’s reeling and reeing after three years of the breakup still. Avina for me feels like an easy way out, a cheat code for Seven to never feel worry about his actions - what would it take for him with Avina present to actually notice that he’s going down the downward spiral, and so is his former lover?
Surprisingly enough in Anna’s route Blake wasn’t that much of an ass! He actually reacted pretty well to her deflections with humour and treated her nicer than Seven. There was a nice dynamic of vitriolic buds growing for sure!
I liked both of these moments. It’s going to be very funny if Blake turns out to be nicer than Seven.
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I agree with all this, and I wished we could see a more nuanced Seven (for all their complexity and clutter of a brain, they read very one-dimensional) and people stopped treating them like they’re made of glass, but there were a couple of scenes were I did empathize with them.
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Oh, Seven knows he’s hurting MC. That’s his goal!
Exactly. And I’m not sure Seven will ever wake up with Avina at his side, because Avina enables him. I think something will have to happen to get Avina away from him, then have a major “oh shit” moment that Seven can’t avoid facing. It’s going to have to hit him in the face with the force of a million bricks for him to get it, and Avina will have to be out of reach and unable to come rushing to fix it for him.
Yep.
The only scene where I’ve felt any empathy for Seven was their patreon POV from the bus scene. There was enough there, showing just how fucked up Seven is, to make me feel for them. I have yet to get any of that in the demo.
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hi, loving this so far! I wanted to point out that there are some inconsistencies when it comes to Devyn’s pronouns, unless they use both! If they use both, that’s totally fine, I just didn’t see that earlier in the text. One example is this Chapter 1 sentence: "They run a hand through their mullet as she thinks confused me a bit.
(It won’t let me upload the image for some reason)
So excited for future updates!
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Devyn I think uses both, going by she/they
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Yes, I didn’t mean to say you worded it that way, just how the general criticism came out sounding to me. As for them being a Mary-sue, partly I agree (sometimes they do feel like the darling of the story) but also I personally never got the feeling that the narrative coddled them. But that’s just my take.
If they end up being Alima 2.0 I will gift you a virtual apology bouquet, because honestly I’m dreading that 
On a more positive note, I’m super excited to go back to my Griffin agenda 
something about this pathetic, pathetic little man just appeals to me, so knowing everyone is on board more than ever has me going 
(same thing for Orion, although that’s another slowburn which shall roast me alive)
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They are both perfection in the update. I ended up copy/pasting into a document the G scene that killed me and the cute Orion scenes so I wouldn’t have to go back and hunt for them or speed run to see them. They are so awesome. 
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I must confess I came back after my Corporate Finance class and was delighted to see so much engagement 
. Also had to laugh because we are literally acting like fans debating about the last reality TV show 
.
Yes please. I like a little drama like anyone but pettiness is not something I enjoy. Even though I am a little petty too now and want to make seven jealous n😔. We have a saying in Germany “was du nicht willst was man dir tut, dass füg auch keinem anderen zu” --meaning basically what you don’t want to be done to you, don’t do to someone else.
For me it was G. I was squealing 
. I was also so positively surprised because I was not expecting this scene so early.
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Oh, we have the same one in Russian. “Как аукнется, так и откликнется” - “How you’ll do, you’ll receive”, and I will happily call that my possible fanfic about heavily headcanoned Seven and MC. Ivan and Anna have already started acting like a mirror to Seven’s behaviour, but there can always be more and there will be! Mutual hurt and desire to see each other suffer makes for a fine appetizer to future enemies to lovers.
In my case Ivan tried cooking borsh for Seven once. That attempt ended up semi-alright, and it quickly became a staple of Seven’s visits to Ivan’s house. Ivan also learned that english swears are dry as bone, so he mainly swears in Russian and Seven picked up such wonderful words as “blyat”, “mudak ebany” and “pizdets” though cultural osmosis. Their current relationships are very easily described by the last word.
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Omg yes I’m such a hypocrite because I would hate it the Savina thing was for petty reasons, but I also would like to make Seven jealous (alas see another reaction other than grr grr. Maybe some unmasked emotion.)
Can’t recall if we have an appropriate saying here in Italy, but I’m loving the multicultural angle 
in headcanon territory, my mc definitely taught seven some colorful swears.
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I love proverbs so much.
Hmm, I always have more where that was coming from
Haha, I mean MC was basically raising themselves so I guess they would be exposed to inappropriate content so that would fit 
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The parents situation is so awful.
Like I’d understand them being busy while also supporting their kid, but the chat with the mom was so detached… Scared to know how the dad acts.
It’s a good portrayal of a dysfunctional family and I hate it so much 
no wonder MC and Seven grew so codependent to the point of it being too much.
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I’m still waiting my wedding day with Blake. my special guests will be; Seven and Avina you’re invited!