Grasping at Shadows [2/5] (Suikoden II, Jowy and the Highlanders)

[puella_nerdii]

"Jowy and the Highlanders" almost sounds like the name of a band. That's not this 'verse, though.

Also, writing this much Luca Blight really does necessitate showers afterward.

Title: Grasping at Shadows [2/5] (AO3)
Author:

Comments

[lindenleaves]

Yeah, oh gods pretty much sums it up, doesn't it.

Major props, first of all, for how you consistently refuse to let Jowy off the hook. I especially liked the exchange with Leon about the Unicorn Army. "Well, you could always join the Unicorn Army... But you're not going to do that, are you." Not you can't, but an inexplicitly explicit this is not an option that is on the table by your own choice. Very slick. (Also, is Seed supposed to be Leon's son? Did I somehow miss this plot point?)

Love, again, the persistent fear; I guess we can't expect sprites to show that kind of thing, but again, the game seemed like way too much "I went shopping for a new outfit and INSTANT PERSONALITY HARDENING." And the Muse scene, I just--you knew that was there, you knew that had to be there, but seeing it laid out like that puts you very much in Jowy's position, where he can't look away from it and now you can't either, and that was very much more than a gutpunch. Suikoden is really willing to grapple with tragedy on a scale you don't get in a lot of

[puella_nerdii]

I literally grinned from ear to ear when I saw this comment, so eee, thank you so much. ♥ Not letting Jowy off the hook is one of the key things I've tried to do in writing this -- frankly, I don't think he lets himself off the hook, either -- so I'm really glad that's coming through. The poor kid really does a number on his own head, in convincing himself that there's no course of action available to him other than the one he's taking, and that he has to shoulder the weight of that alone because he's the only one who can see it through to the end.

Muse took a good long while to write. And rewrite. And rewrite some more. I think it's the section of the fic that I've spent the most time on, because how much of tens of thousands of people getting devoured by a giant two-headed wolf do you show, exactly? (It didn't help that I had to try to make sense of Luca's strange-ass tangent in the middle of his cutscene with Jowy. Thank you, Suikoden II translation team

[val_tanelle]

Link to chapter 3 is broken. Just a head's up!

[puella_nerdii]

fffft. Serves me right for not testing it. Should be fixed now!