I CANT BELIEVE IT.

I CAN’T BELIEVE IT.

All this time, I just thought I’d completely made up a false, very subjective “theory” that Sophie’s behavior and appearance shifted to become colder and calcified in TLEA because Rafal had acted out some kind of lie of omission and breathed his soul into her (and I wanted to come up with yet another plausible reason for Sophie to distrust him in TOTSMOV41.) And then, I come across this page, at random, only to see this description of “a strange warmth,” which could just be physiological warmth, some product of strong emotion on Sophie’s part. But it also could be interpreted as the same warmth James Hook felt with Rafal’s soul inside him! (In truth, I doubt that, at the time of publication, this moment was meant to signal this particular interpretation based in the prequels, but I’ll take it because it happens to be convenient for me.)

Also, if I stopped to acknowledge Fall, another question arises: did the quality of Rhian’s soul transform along with his appearance, to more closely resemble Rafal’s soul? Why and how could it be warm and reassuring? Rhian’s soul, while Evil, was unstable in Fall. So, maybe more than his appearance metaphysically shifted over time to match Rafal, making him more than an near-exact replica of his brother visually, down to a soul level, seemingly.

The only inconsistency here that doesn't fit is he kisses her hand. Thus, I doubt any breath actually gets into her lungs.

If there was one thing you could choose to do forever, what would it be??

That’s hard. I think the most flexible answer I could give to get even part of what I’d want out of life would be that I’d choose to be a student of some kind forever, or if my answer has to be an active verb: to keep learning forever. This, as my one thing, would allow me to both read and write for the rest of my life. Also, it would be a loophole!

I could claim I was doing or observing something in order “to study” it or to learn from it, meaning, I could justify doing virtually anything I wanted. Even if I wanted to do nothing at all, I could reason out that I’m, for instance, studying the effects of “meditative silence” on my brain and its deterioration from long term inactivity. Or, I’d just say I learn automatically from life experience as I age since we, as humans, never stop processing information and thus, technically, never stop responding and learning to respond to a constant onslaught of information, so in my example, I would be “learning” to sit with stimuli around and suppress responses to it, by consciously choosing to do nothing, effectively getting out of having to “do” anything.

i feel like Rhian is a person who is SO frightened to eat a simple medicine because it tastes horrible, and Rafal is the one who's stressed about it

I could see that happening, but I’m not sure I’d fully agree because I think Rhian values his dignity too much to act childishly like that. Also, I personally view him as a chronic hypochondriac with sky-high anxiety, who wants to set a Good example for the children and who’d rather take medicine to avoid pain, meaning, he’d probably take the medicine, even if he hated its taste, for his own sanity and his health/comfort. The one exception would be if he hated the taste more than he could tolerate the pain, not an ideal trade-off. Perhaps, in private, he would be more defensive and try to weasel his way out of taking the medicine; in that way, I could see what you’ve said actually playing out, especially if the illness caused him to be irrational. (By the way, if Rafal were the one who was sick, I’d suspect he’d deny it and ignore it until illness made him collapse, as in literally drop to the ground, because he doesn’t pay attention to or doesn’t have sensitive physical needs, and is overall under-responsive, seeing as he once didn’t move and implicitly didn’t eat for several days while watching the torture sessions in Rise. He could’ve been so engrossed that he’d forgotten.) Anyway, Rafal would definitely resort to forcing Rhian to swallow the medicine, if it came to it though—because it’s for Rhian’s “own good,” and for once, Rafal isn’t wrong about that, no matter how controlling he is. But first, I think Rafal would plunk down the pills and glass of water in front of Rhian whilst they’re in front of a large crowd, when the entire School is dining, and just dare Rhian with his eyes to not comply and make a scene in the face of nebulous future consequences (the one time a threat by Rafal would be empty and more just a reminder because Rhian would punish himself well enough by acting out and losing respect from the Evers). That, using Rhian’s heretofore spotless image against him and hidden social pressure, would probably work best. And, if that’s easiest, Rafal would, of course, chose the path of least resistance, however underhanded it may seem.

Zodiac sign??

I don't believe in the zodiac signs but Gemini.

Busy lately??

Yes. If you’re wondering, I have other projects with real deadlines that take precedence over fics. I may post more at certain points of the year though. Not quite sure yet.

What are you most scared of??

Why should I tell you?

(It’s fine if you want to try convincing me that I should answer, but I think my mind is already made up in that I won’t. Sorry for the lack of response. I do not want this type of information to be used against me. You can interpret my answer as paranoia or distrust of humanity, but I don’t think you will get very far! I will allow challengers to psychoanalyze me if they want though. /hj)