A White Lie || The House in Fata Morgana - Part 10

[@Shuukuriimudaisuki-sama]

Perhaps one way to interpret the curse's influence in Mell's situation is something like this: Since Mell was becoming a young adult and establishing his own identity, and based on his own admissions, he wanted to separate himself from the relationship he had with Nellie, which had become too close, too sheltered. As she was expected to find a husband and be married off, etc. etc., Mell likely figured that if he could find a suitable lady to woo, that might make his separation from Nellie easier on them both. He just "happened" to find that in the Girl. Again, this was not necessarily because he was actively LOOKING for someone, but perhaps the mansion/the curse had its hand in events, and tossed the Girl his way on a whim? Anyway, he obviously wanted to be closer to the Girl, then family bloodline drama ensues, and everything ends with the Girl running off and Mell eventually became a priest, which pretty much means that the Rhodes family bloodline ended there. So his wish to find someone (and in a way, for Nellie to find someone, even though it was Arthur, a person she hated) was granted - but that "someone" was his half-sister, and as a part of the ensuing chaos, the fate of the entire family was sealed. It might not be as chaotic as the second and third doors, but it still ended in a cascade of misfortune.

[@Mitzchievous]

That's a nice way to put it! Door 1's curse definitely is way more subtly manipulating tragedy by bringing the Girl for Mell to crush on. Specifically a woman who already had a blood relationship with him. Besides that, it feels like the misfortune came about from ONLY how the characters interacted and nothing else more. Nothing else influenced their actions. (Except maybe Nellie conveniently finding the hidden message in that painting) Its a direct contrast to how directly everything was instigated in the next two doors. Door 2: Yukimasa is sent a bunch of people to kill his way. Some apparently from a nearby village and random travelers at such a rate it doesn't feel coincidental anymore. Door 3: Maria found Jacopo living in the manor, noticed how he changed and grew spiteful. Wonder if the mansion called to bring her in specifically and messed with her head a bit. The second she was brought in, SHE was doing all the manipulating. The Girl always acted as a catalyst even when she does NOTHING wrong. Feels like a monkey's paw for all the men involved to "grant" their wish and still twist it. Very subtle so far.

[@Shuukuriimudaisuki-sama]

With the Fifth Door, I really do love the subtle UI change to indicate the perspective of the current scene. It's not major, but a nice little touch. And honestly, this section of the game is kind of the longest portion overall, and is really the meat of the story (though there's still a lot more, and is kind of divided into some sub-stories that all loop back here). We were warned that things are not going to be pretty, though... Giselle is freaking great, honestly. And I love how much more curmudgeonly Michel is, too. Very much the Odd Couple here. This is definitely NOT the beautiful romance of the Fourth Door 😂 Normally I'm not a huge fan of the overly bubbly-type characters either because they usually end up being overbearing in some way, but Giselle doesn't, and is actually very endearing, especially contrasted with Michel's grumpy attitude. 2:27:30 Memory check time! Back in Door 1, the Girl was cleaning the library when Mell appeared and showed her a certain book (apparently some noble's diary), but it was horribly faded and written in a language other than English, but he was able to make out a few words here and there...sound familiar? I do want to point out one thing that I totally missed on my first playthrough. Without going into great detail and risk spoiling anything, I do want you to take note of some of Michel's behaviors in the coming segments...and if he does anything that seems "off", check your text log (the backlog of previous lines). That's all I will say for now. :)

[@Mitzchievous]

Oh boy I COMPLETELY forgotten the book back then. It mostly just acted as another scene that furthers Mell's flirtations, couldn't really give it too much thought then. Pay attention to Michel in the future. Can do! *Salutes*