i was holding off on saying anything till the update dropped, but come on, did you actually expect us to believe you’d axe nick? ha! gonna take more than that!
gotta say though having him in our head could solve the problems of him having a bit of a minor role and his protective big brother thing being more tell than show too, since he’ll actually be right there and we’ll see all his brotherly acts (or at least thoughts) in person. hope he can mentally guide button through baking cookies.
heh, and here i thought the sally nick button triangle couldn’t get any more awkward, now we got body sharing too. brilliant!
kinda railroady that we have to get sent home after the hospital trip so soon. nice that we got a lotta options and reactions, but i’d like it if button could adamantly refuse to leave their bro’s side and have to be dragged home kicking and screaming or knocked out or mind controlled.
wow that was intense…so now Nick can see everything that the MC sees? As much as I love Nick, that sounds very uncomfortable. That was a fun update, btw! cant wait for more
@wildelight – i’m laughing at the update subtitle! I guess we’re mostly not the Chosen One, since Nick’s (or whoever the heck is pretending to be Nick ) is living rent-free on the ol’ Noggin Express, bahaha! So I guess we’re partially the “Chosen One” now!
After reading Glitch and Co.'s route out of the hospital, I could not even(!) with the sweetness of both of them!! I was fairly sure my character wasn’t gonna go for K, but dang, K throwing themselves to the media wolves pour moi was a total moment for me!
Let’s also not forget concerned Glitch, who’s doing what they can to be there for a 0 they just met! Seriously! Thank you for holding Button’s hand aaaah
They’re both giving Gray a run for his money! Here’s to maxing out multiple attraction stats until we settle on one haha!
also, Snickly!! I feel like I have a moral obligation to see that through.
lol it just dawned on me how cute it would be for the Wiseman siblings to marry the other’s best friend hahaha! i kind of love it omg.
In other news…the green-eyed nurse and our waiter at Sofia’s are both very sus. Very sus indeed.
Also, going off this, I was wondering how each of you guys felt about the Wisemans and Co. (i.e. Sally and Gray) taking it upon themselves to be heavily involved in Button’s life and decisions.
When I was thinking about this:
I realized that if that scenario ever came to pass (just basing off what we know now up to this point), there would be no separating Nick or Sally from your personal affairs at all. Ever.
At first I was pretty chill with how the other Wisemans and Co. looked out for my Button throughout her life, especially after the mom incident. I thought it was very sweet, even endearing. Now, my Button remains grateful to them, for sure, but I’m realizing with every playthrough I feel increasingly more…stifled? Suffocated?
I get a little more bothered each time I read how they deal with Button so delicately. like lol tell it like it is and treat me equal lol. The quasi-power-of-attorney they exercise sometimes too gets less and less cute over time. (lol sally what if i didn’t want you to stay over without asking me first)
To be fair, how sorely dependent she is on their Mental protection isn’t super cute to me either. Not too much wiggle room to “go and find yourself” apart from them.
Every new iteration of my Button I feel yearns a little more than the last to be a free, functioning member of society. Without necessitating Nick, or Sally, or anyone else.
I don’t really have any set opinions about characters yet, so this might just be a me thing.
About Sally
Ignoring how I play my Buttons, whether interested in Sally or just seeing her as an annoyance is beyond me. I never really cared for her other than the fact that she’s the best friend who likes our brother, and the new chapter just made me open to the idea about how Sally’s friendship with Button is on the backburner at least for now. I understand how Sally’s crush on Nick will be a reason for her to rush over to the hospital. But considering if it’s a Button she’s supposed to be close with - it feels as though that factor overshadows the friendship dynamic. At least for me it seems like Sally’s only there for Nick and not for supporting Button, but this is obviously up to interpretation.
I have nothing to say about John because he’s just there for me. Could do with or without him when it comes down to it.
Overall I’m pretty sure the whole being suffocated by everyone is something that grows the more you interact with the characters. Considering how they repeatedly treat Button with kid gloves, save for maybe Glitch, K and Rosy (Rosy being a prime example of seeing potential in someone despite not being a piece that fits in this hypothetical puzzle)
Which is why I also appreciate the options to want to tell people off if not actually telling them off. At this point it feels like they are rubbing it in Button’s face how vulnerable they are, and despite it being a dangerous topic that a person shouldn’t avoid, that in turn doesn’t make it any less sensitive. A person can’t exactly live a somewhat normal life when constantly reminded what a big anomaly they are to the world around them, whether its through words or actions. They are standing on that fine line of being concerned to being overbearing.
I know we’re all freaking out about Nick but I’m calling it now, I don’t think the bomb was supposed to hurt anyone. Which just makes me more curious what Noh is up to.
This update! Not only it was emotional all the way through but also that cliffhanger again.
Honestly… I’m just sooorelieved and happy that my favorite character Nicky Mouse is alive! And yes, I know he is technically in coma and will be probably for a while living rent-free in Button’s head but that’s… fine. It’s definitely not a perfect outcome but hey, considering that total strangers are getting a free ticket to snoop around in my Button’s head every day, she really doesn’t mind so much that instead it will be her brother that she trusts and loves to bits. It’s probably just temporary, until Nick will wake up (he will, that’s the version I’m sticking with anyway!). So I’m looking forward to see more of Nick and my confident/humorous Button “inner-chat”, since this is bound to have some really funny moments. Staying positive here!
Now please don’t “hunt me”! But…
I think I might be the only person around that doesn’t want to see Sally & Nick together… Don’t get me wrong, I like Sally as a character and my Button’s friend… But not that much her crush on Nick and idea of them as a couple. So I have a small question @wildelight, (assuming that Nicky will be fine!) is supporting or not Sally’s crush going to be a one choice kind of deal or rather few choices? For example is choosing at the hospital: “There’s nothing going on between Sally and Nick, except perhaps in Sally’s head…” enough? I just want her to leave my Button’s brother alone.
Also, last but not least… Glitch and K were proper sweethearts!
Is there something I missed? How do we know that the crockpot has been there for two years? When did he say this exactly?
Summary
“Where does the crockpot come in?” you ask.
“I promised Nick that I’d make sure you made lunch if he promised not to cause a scene,” Gray says. “The crockpot’s been sitting next to my desk for a while, so I figured it made a good an excuse as any.”
Two things about his confession disturb you:
The first is that Gray and your brother talk about you when you’re not present.
The second is that Gray kept an empty crockpot at his desk for two years.
I’m glad other people find the nurse suspicious. I got ‘take a step back’ vibes and I’m wondering if they’ll try to use the situation to get close to the family…
…
Or they’re one of the bad guys pawns. Or both.
I just hope mc’s mind doesn’t go back to its “normal” zero state, at constant risk of that damned shut out syndrome, after Nick or Noh or Mom pretending to be Nick or whoever finally leaves.
Actually I’ve got two theories about how temporarily hosting this visitor may ultimately give the mc their light at the end of the tunnel.
The first one is the most simple and low risk one: In this case living with the visitor for days or months would force the mc’s brain to rewire itself in such a way that some changes linger and if the mc is lucky those changes will ward against or help us fight at least the shut out syndrome in the future so the mc’s shitty life can finally improve. In this scenario the whole zero thing will have turned out to be some faulty wiring in the mc’s brain, as in something whether mom’s own powers or the satellite uncle Gary mentions prevented the mc’s brain from making a crucial synaptic connection during development in the womb, comparable to a software problem and it turns out there is nothing wrong with the mc’s brain “hardware” So in effect in this scenario Nick would give the mc the greatest gift he ever could by fixing or significantly diminishing their condition to the point where it actually significantly improves their lives afterwards
The second one is a variation on that theme, more scientific, more high risk.
Since the mc’s parents had extensive scans made of his brain in its “broken” state during all those hospital visits as a kid we may be able to use those to devise a treatment, provided we get some good scans of the mc’s brain in its present state. Then provided the mc’s present state does provide some protection from unwanted Ment intrusion at least, by comparing those two after the facts we may finally get some inkling about what drugs or operations might be effective to fix the hardware fault in the mc’s brain. Though, unlike the option above where the problem turned out to have been purely “software”, it would carry significant risks of complications and side effects, but then there’s nothing my mc wouldn’t do for a chance to be rid of shut out syndrome.
Something that didn’t go well with my MC who resented Nick (for obvious reasons and also due to the love triangle) was that even though he was harsh towards Nick throughout the story so far or he signalled out the emotion of hatred or resentment when calling out Nick, Button doesn’t have options of being outright cold or be anything else other than tell him that he loves him(my Button doesn’t love Nick, he represents everything he’s not, including Sally). Also I love Sally’s behavior whenever she realises that she’s in between a sibling rivalry and she’s desperately trying to hold on to both of them even if it tears her apart.
Yeah, @CorvusWitchcraft mentioned this issue in an earlier post as well. And you guys both are right! I’ve been writing/deleting/rewriting new addresses to Nick this morning for more resentful Buttons.
It’s a struggle, honestly because of a lack of imagination on my part. I don’t want to write gratuitous “kick the crippled dog” moments, so my answer has so far been to provide escape routes. When I write the scenes where Button can be unyieldingly ugly to Nick, the end results feels inauthentic and cartoonish (to me, at least). Resentful love, I understand. Conflicted affection? Hell yes! You can hate and love someone at the same time, especially family. But the “just hate, no love” side is hard for me to comprehend and thus convey, especially since I really don’t feel like Nick deserves it. It’s a bias I’m working to get past.
Maybe sibling relationship between Mob and Ritsu Kageyama from Mob Psycho 100 and Sasuke and Itachi Uchiha in Naurto might help you find you inspiration you’re looking for if you’re into anime.
Oh god it just dawned on me “As if driving them insane wasn’t enough, I’ve now progressed to killing them” so if we did plant the bomb that almost killed Nick…
cant wait for more
) is living rent-free on the ol’ Noggin Express
moment for me!
I feel like I have a moral obligation to see that through.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Sally as a character and my Button’s friend… But not that much her crush on Nick and idea of them as a couple. So I have a small question 
So in effect in this scenario Nick would give the mc the greatest gift he ever could by fixing or significantly diminishing their condition to the point where it actually significantly improves their lives afterwards 