Mahkohime's Musings

It was important to me in this series that Galian (and all of Vinny's transformations) pass the Harkness test. I want them all to be fleshed out, individual characters with their own personalities and experiences. I love fics where they're more mindless too, but I am trying to write a semi-realistic romance where a core theme is unconditional acceptance despite each person's individual flaws, and they're kinda the literal personification of Vincent's trauma lol.

If his other transformations are in Revelation then I'll be including them in my series, but if they don't show up then I won't be. This is mostly to save my own mental health and also cause I'm not really a good character designer lmao, but the different parts of him that they represent will still be present and explored in the story. I'll explain a little, but will preface that Chaos is his own entity, so isn't included here because he has his own arc.

Galian represents Vincent's lost humanity and in a way takes the form of how he might have acted if he'd become a father; playful and supportive while also being firm and understanding. Gigas represents the inherent vulnerability in being human. He's an innocent, gentle monster that everyone is afraid of because of his appearance. He scares others away when all he really wants is to feel included and trusted. Hellmasker represents the tempering of emotions and expectations, existing with other humans and accepting them for who they are. Vincent has always been calm and collected, but regular people don't become turks. He's always had a darkness, an fury that would show itself while carrying out the more unsavoury parts of his job, and now it is even more repressed.

Anyway, the point of all that was to address what Vincent's monsters mean and how they'll impact the story. His and Reader's acceptance of them as parts of him is pretty integral to the overarching Chaos Theory plot, and is why Galian's part in Abyss actually has a lot of story in it lmao.

So, let's talk specifically about Galian.

Galian is intelligent and understanding but not quite as clever as he first comes across as. He has an adult vocabulary from Vincent and understands speech, but he can't really imagine things he hasn't experienced or think abstractly. He can read road signs, probably assemble a bookcase with written instructions, but couldn't follow along with the plot of a book even if technically he understood every single word. He would absolutely love for you to read to him though, and curl up in your lap while just listening to your voice <3.

He can't produce human enough sounds from his muzzle and mangled vocal cords to speak legibly, but he can do decent impressions of "Hello. I dunno. Fuck off" etc lol. He could learn how to sign but there honestly would still be a gap in communication with him. You know how in those studies with the signing Gorillas that they never ask questions or express complex thoughts? He's smarter than that, but there's still a bit of a disconnect.

Which leads to my next point, Galian and our lovely Reader are technically having two separate but related conversations while she's being vulnerable and pouring her heart out, and I'd like to discuss that a little bit.

Galian knows some important things that Vincent doesn't because his mind isn't capable of handling it. This is related to the overarching plot of Chaos Theory and would be explained outside of Infinite Abyss, but let's break it down anyway.

The way that our Reader phrases her question about Omega, quieting the monsters and the protomateria, makes Galian think that she understands at least a little bit about what's going on behind the scenes, and he doesn't quite have the mental ability to realise the nuance in the whole situation.

Galian sees her distress and provides physical comfort but, there's a little misunderstanding because from his perspective, the way the Chaos cells in her react to the protomateria is a comfort, but for her it's the opposite.

Next, she asks if Vincent will freak out if she tells him. Now, she's asking about the experimentation and injection. Galian thinks she's talking about Chaos' haphazard master plan which is the root cause of everything. To which yes, Vincent would absolutely freak out, like, pyche breaking, comatose sort of freak out lmao. So Galian gives a tiny whine, because that is the most terrifying outcome for him.

Anyway, wasn't that a fun analysis lmaoooo. Here's the sneak peek for the next chapter, and it's my current fave passage in the chapter so far: 

It was important to me in this series that Galian (and all of Vinny's transformations) pass the Harkness test. I want them all to be fleshed out, individual characters with their own personalities and experiences. I love fics where they're more mindless too, but I am trying to write a semi-realistic romance where a core theme is unconditional acceptance despite each person's individual flaws, and they're kinda the literal personification of Vincent's trauma lol.

If his other transformations are in Revelation then I'll be including them in my series, but if they don't show up then I won't be. This is mostly to save my own mental health and also cause I'm not really a good character designer lmao, but the different parts of him that they represent will still be present and explored in the story. I'll explain a little, but will preface that Chaos is his own entity, so isn't included here because he has his own arc.

Galian represents Vincent's lost humanity and in a way takes the form of how he might have acted if he'd become a father; playful and supportive while also being firm and understanding. Gigas represents the inherent vulnerability in being human. He's an innocent, gentle monster that everyone is afraid of because of his appearance. He scares others away when all he really wants is to feel included and trusted. Hellmasker represents the tempering of emotions and expectations, existing with other humans and accepting them for who they are. Vincent has always been calm and collected, but regular people don't become turks. He's always had a darkness, an fury that would show itself while carrying out the more unsavoury parts of his job, and now it is even more repressed.

Anyway, the point of all that was to address what Vincent's monsters mean and how they'll impact the story. His and Reader's acceptance of them as parts of him is pretty integral to the overarching Chaos Theory plot, and is why Galian's part in Abyss actually has a lot of story in it lmao.

So, let's talk specifically about Galian.

Galian is intelligent and understanding but not quite as clever as he first comes across as. He has an adult vocabulary from Vincent and understands speech, but he can't really imagine things he hasn't experienced or think abstractly. He can read road signs, probably assemble a bookcase with written instructions, but couldn't follow along with the plot of a book even if technically he understood every single word. He would absolutely love for you to read to him though, and curl up in your lap while just listening to your voice <3.

He can't produce human enough sounds from his muzzle and mangled vocal cords to speak legibly, but he can do decent impressions of "Hello. I dunno. Fuck off" etc lol. He could learn how to sign but there honestly would still be a gap in communication with him. You know how in those studies with the signing Gorillas that they never ask questions or express complex thoughts? He's smarter than that, but there's still a bit of a disconnect.

Which leads to my next point, Galian and our lovely Reader are technically having two separate but related conversations while she's being vulnerable and pouring her heart out, and I'd like to discuss that a little bit.

Galian knows some important things that Vincent doesn't because his mind isn't capable of handling it. This is related to the overarching plot of Chaos Theory and would be explained outside of Infinite Abyss, but let's break it down anyway.

The way that our Reader phrases her question about Omega, quieting the monsters and the protomateria, makes Galian think that she understands at least a little bit about what's going on behind the scenes, and he doesn't quite have the mental ability to realise the nuance in the whole situation.

Galian sees her distress and provides physical comfort but, there's a little misunderstanding because from his perspective, the way the Chaos cells in her react to the protomateria is a comfort, but for her it's the opposite.

Next, she asks if Vincent will freak out if she tells him. Now, she's asking about the experimentation and injection. Galian thinks she's talking about Chaos' haphazard master plan which is the root cause of everything. To which yes, Vincent would absolutely freak out, like, pyche breaking, comatose sort of freak out lmao. So Galian gives a tiny whine, because that is the most terrifying outcome for him.

Anyway, wasn't that a fun analysis lmaoooo. Here's the sneak peek for the next chapter, and it's my current fave passage in the chapter so far: