In A’s defence they also admit their feeling for the detective poorly, very very poorly at the end of B3. But the image of M being a horny Darcy is just 
Same, I would have loved an enemies to lovers for A, it makes more sense imo, the insta love is just… 
smh
I think that little metaphor was more directed at A than at the MC. The green and red leaves that bite into the brickwork, holding it up but destroying it, are supposed to be A’s past and ways of dealing with trauma. A uses their past as a reason to keep people at arm’s length (save UB), and as a shield, in some respects, because they don’t want to risk losing anyone (or causing the death of someone they love) again.
So yeah, it’s not about the MC being destroyed. It’s about A destroying themselves with the very thing that has kept them going for so long.
I think it could have worked, even without the rivalmance to lovers. Imagine this…
You are a supernatural creature, one who is very in tune with magical things, able to recognize that which remains unseen to others, especially human. You know soulmates exist, know that such a connection can be recognized immediately (or, possibly, slowly recognized if you aren’t in tune to such things). Yet, you’ve never believed in it for you. You’ve seen it with others, maybe even recognize it on your own team (in which case A would be able to “see” that connection between the MC and their LI on other paths), but never for you. You’ve been alive too long, seen too much. Been through too much loss, some you feel you’ve caused.
In walks the MC and it hits you like a fucking avalanche. You know when you lay eyes on them that they are the one. You feel it in your bones. In your heart. In your soul, which you thought damned for eternity for all you’ve done. Worse, it’s a human, one who probably doesn’t return your feelings, one who doesn’t recognize that connection that is already digging its claws into your very essence.
You are, for the first time since you were turned into a supernatural, afraid. Given A’s personality, that fear would manifest as anger, so the constant asshole behavior in b1 would be understandable. After all, the MC will soon be out of A’s life, so it’s best to make damned sure to keep them away. If you don’t, then you won’t be able to resist. But then the MC is made liaison.
And this is where it would have to shift gears. In b2, it can’t be the fear displayed as anger anymore. No more hot/cold or combative behavior. Here, it would have to be obvious fear. A running away after a touch or getting too close would be the only protection they have now. But even that has to evolve…
So in b3, you’re past the rivalmance, past the days where A tucks tail and runs. And here is where you need honesty. A’s explanation about their family. A letting the MC into their life with the wash-the-car date. The walls start to come down, and if they start to go back up again, the MC can put a stop to it and, with the right choices, force them down further. Keep the kiss at the end, but without the “after this it’s over”.
Have the love admission and the kiss, with A flat out telling the MC about the soulmate thing. About the magic between them. About their own fear of it, because the MC is human and A can’t bear the thought of losing them, where A says, still clearly afraid, but full of emotion and need for the MC, “And I do not know where to go with this now. With us…” So the MC can tell them they’ll figure it out… together. It gives more hope, continues progression in the romance, and keeps A in a place where they still have shit to work through.
I think that would’ve worked.
These two bits are at odds.
Could’ve been phrased better, but I did it off the top of my head. 
But the basic idea is that A has doubts that the MC feels the same, even knowing that magical connection exists. After all, what if the MC’s blood makes them immune to that magic? So A knows that connection is there, but the MC may not. Or may refuse it. Or, if approached with that fact, may resist A just to “spite” fate.
I would have loved an enemies to lovers sort of romance, with A slowly but surely letting go of past trauma etc, but alas that’s another thing which shall get explored with fanfiction (also I’m surprised at the lack of enemies to lovers in IF in general, although I’m a picky reader, so I might have missed a lot)
I’d usually never tell anyone to get over their trauma, but A…time to deal with it and get over it…it’s been 900 years. This seems like something that could of knocked out in first two or three hundred years.
I just finished the demo of Ouroboros , really good enemies to lover route brewing up with Idren. If you haven’t heard of it!
The fundamental problem here is that the agency should have done something to help, and not only for A, but like we’ve established this organization is incapable of doing anything right.
I’m not saying you need to babysit these people, but helping them overcome their past would benefit the both of you. Instead, they have a team of unstable teletubbies and it could make for some interesting development, but that’s also something which will never happen.
Everyone in wayhaven is an adult and yet everything reads like a teen drama.
Yeah, the way the Agency handled M is just insane. Here’s this supposed ticking time bomb and they send them off with no one schedule to clean the crystal that holds all that power that keeps them from exploding? Good plan, assholes. Instead of helping M learn to control themselves and their powers, their great plan is to lock that shit away, block all their memories, and tell them horror stories about the crystal so they completely freak out at the thought of anyone touching it.
All this is made worse by the whole “everyone hears the stories about what could happen if that crystal fails!” from the guy who cleans it, but then he doesn’t tell the MC a damned thing about it. By that point, it’s just eye-rollingly stupid rather than dramatic. My MCs (and I) have had enough of the dun-dun-dun half-assed reveals that reveal nothing and are only there to “scare” the MC. Sorry, generic “you should be afraid of stuff I can’t tell you” moments don’t instill fear. They’re just annoying.
Because it is.
Yeah, like even without taking A in consideration (since their trauma is mostly personal, so let’s pretend that’s the agency’s issue here), you have two ticking bombs in your party:
M, who you know could do something really bad, if that necklace fucks up again (which double bad, since when it started to act up in B3 no one did anything save for yeah, go there and handle it yourself lol) and N, who apparently is a bloodthirsty animal ready to snap.
What do we do about that? Give them less blood so they learn how to control the urge.
Plan B if things backfire? Yeah uhhhh… yeah uhhhh…
Plan A: fuck it, we ball.
Plan A, 1.0 edition: let’s hope the new babysitter (the detective) will be enough.
“We had a Plan A?”
Wake up guys, new M tumblr ask just dropped and it… confuses me LOL Didn’t expect that answer
This game is making me develop trust issues
Trying to figure out what the hell the author wants for M’s feelings for the detective must be one of the greatest mysteries of humanity
I’ll go with the theory that M is so confused that even the author is confused now
In the past, she has said that M won’t ever say it and the MC will just “know”, so I don’t know wtf she’s trying to say there.
As far as the “being intimate”… that was easy to interpret: at some point in the future (probably b7, if we’re lucky… if not, we’ll get to head canon it), fucking the MC will actually mean something to M.
So that one older ask basically destroyed the importance of M’s last scenes in b3, saying they’re still not there etc etc, but now you’re telling me that no wait intimacy is actually super important to them.
Not only that, M could say the L word anytime because they’re not ashamed (safe for stupid F shenanigans) even though she also said way back when that you would never hear said word from them explicitly.
It’s such a constant game of contradictions, I honestly don’t know if she knows her own characters at this point.
It’s a tease. Just like ever “special” moment with M has been a tease that she immediately takes back. It’s basically to pacify M-mancers so they stay content with the crumbs she immediately tells us mean nothing so she can drag this shit on with M until the very end.
Yet, she clearly despises M so much that she can’t even let us have the crumbs without shitting all over them.
I always loved this ask (/sarcasm), and it’s particularly applicable right now, with her basically admitting M’s path is not a romance yet (since, as of b3, they still have some “weird” relationship):
(and, also, the thought of M doing anything because society deems it appropriate is just hilarious)
At this point I feel like she knows there are people who are starting to point out the bullshit, so now the only way to try and salvage that is by suppressing her own uncaring feelings towards M to tell their romancers to please stick around cause there’s going to be something really nice at the end.
Like with A romancers, who shall grow old until B7 but hey you’ll get to hold hands and kiss without A bolting at the end.
She doesn’t care about M to the point where their character’s nature shifts at will, like a puppet without a purpose.
Thank you for the extra gift, Chani. My blood pressure loved it.
Yeah. Sadly, at this point, there’s no fucking way she can make it good enough to be worth this bullshit she keeps shoveling. At this point, I’m just here to see if M-mancers get a relationship before I’m dead or get too pissed off to keep playing. It’s a tossup.
I’d bet A-mancers get an actual relationship and a willing A before M pulls their head out of their ass and “figures” things out, because she’s not going to allow M to figure anything out until near the end. This “you’ll get a relationship way before the end” bullshit has already passed, since we’re at the halfway point now.
Plus, she has repeatedly said there won’t be an official “start” to the thing with M, anyway, and the MC will just “know”.
Uh huh. And I think she was disappointed so many people liked where it shifted in b3, which is why she immediately shit all over it.
You’re welcome. I like to spread the joy. 
