writer's xrosroad

Like hey, Heart represents the 'soul' part of the mind/body/soul triad in Calamity, Anne can see souls of the departed too. A pink she-frog so ancient she's lost all memory and sense of self aside from the directive to protect... something in the family home (cough in the basement cough). Olivia's mother in Newtopia, usually seen at the family shrine but sometimes lurking around her daughter with a strange air.

A mist-writhing mass of an amalgamate cairn-spirit looming over Anne's duel with Sasha on top of South Tower, shaking her nerves and raising the hairs on the back of her neck because she knows which combatant the spirit wants to win. Just like she knows that if Sasha really did die falling off the tower, she would have been added to its number. The weird red-tinged toad trailing after the hammer Grime carries into Newtopia on the day of the coup, lonely and betrayed.

The utter lack of true ghosts in Newtopia Castle, because all of them are not Technically dead, as they're in the Core, and any ghosts otherwise around know to stay away from that abomination. Marcy standing up out of her own body, bolting for Anne in a panic, and both getting zapped back to Earth knowing one of them is dead (well, sort of. Clinically dead and then a coma patient, but they don't know that, do they)

Funeral Rites (which have remained consistent over time and between pre-, mid-, and post-Calamity Box tech), and related topics (witchcraft and necromancy, which have not remained consistent over time)

Frogs burn their dead, but are also expected to burn something of value belonging the deceased to settle any earthly debts or connections keeping them tied to the living world. What's done with the ashes varies geographically- southern regions such as Wartwood tend to scatter them after the mourning period is over.

Toads bury their dead in mass-grave cairns, most often according to their clan, but rarely, and mostly in the distant past when true warfare was more common, they would bury everyone at the site of a battle where casualties were especially heavy and high. The mass burial is meant to create, and then grow larger, amalgamate-spirits that watch over the lives and deaths of their collective descendants. The more toads buried at a cairn, the stronger the spirit. (Toads who don't get buried are thought to turn into red ghosts- wandering things that will seek out and kill their family and clan members to... basically glue all their spirits together to become a weird, screwed-up kind of amalgamate cairn spirit)

Newts practice a form of ancestor worship- family shrines with multiple chambers containing records, biographies, genealogies, or simply quiet places to speak to a given deceased ancestor. For newts too poor to access a family shrine, there are often more generic 'all newts welcome' shrines in major population centers. The largest of these is in the underwater portion of Newtopia, partially because I refuse to believe that a city built by and for newts doesn't have aquatic buildings and pathways.

It used to be a way more common practice, pre-Calamity, but after the box became the fulcrum for pretty much all infrastructure, use of witchcraft faded... and in being forcibly phased out, left a gaping hole in post-Box-theft Amphibia that remained unfilled and contributed to the regression we see in canon. Whoops!

One of the reasons proper funerary rites were such a Big Deal was because it was the most effective way to prevent a necromancer from raising that corpse (The only 100% certain way is to kill something with Heart aspect Calamity). With witchcraft less relevant in general the reason for that emphasis on proper disposal of a body is no longer an issue, but the practices are still kept in the modern time.

It's still a bad thing though, because witches were heavily relied on as one of the few amphibians who could, for example, exorcise red ghosts (Proper cairn-spirits are already violent by design, so when a red ghost is around it's especially and lethally bad news for the toads around), or lay a spirit to rest of the corpse was unavailable/distant/eaten.

What’s in the locket? A theory and meta analysis, by Lillow. 

Gimme that Candyfloss is really good. I’m not going to recap the entire fic, that isn’t the purpose of… this. The purpose of this is to accurately guess what’s inside the damn locket before getting revealed. I went back and collected every reference to the dang things in the entire fic, plus the one shot to be sure. Using the info I’ve found, we can put together a list of facts about the lockets along with a meta-analysis of the story to see how the locket plays into the general themes of the story. Knowing the themes of the story, we can predict what exactly is in this locket. But first, a little about me. This is the part of the argument called “Establishing Credibility.” Am I an english major, a friend of the author’s, a Polytrix expert? No. I’m in mechanical engineering, actually. I’m just a nerd who’s procrastinating studying by theorizing about a fic I like. 

Part 1: What does the locket even represent? 

Okay, okay, the first question we have to ask. What’s up with this dang locket? Why is it important? There’s a few easy answers, immediately. One, arsonide has mentioned it 23 times through the fic and teased it on twitter and in the author’s notes. But the real reason it’s important is narrative weight. Arsonide is a seriously smart author, and I’ve been continually impressed with the fic and general foreshadowing/returning to themes. The main theme of the Movie these characters are based on is hiding- how hiding hurts us, hurts our relationships, and is overall harmful. The message of the movie is “Don’t hide things.” Shame, demon patterns, creativity, brashness. The girls work best “When darkness meets the light”, to quote This is what it sounds like. 

This plays into the theme of the fic! Rumi and Mira are bitter exes. Their relationship itself is their shame in the fic, taking the place of Rumi’s patterns. This is confirmed explicitly by the author on Twitter, btw, on a drawing of the fic showing Rumi’s patterns as memories of Mira. The relationship dictates most of the narrative, and specifically their inability to get over it. The lockets are the physical, in world representation of the relationship. The girls constantly chew on the chain, rub their fingers on it, or just… reminisce. There’s even a scene in Ch10 where Mira is thinking about Rumi and goes to feel the locket. (This happens more than once, this was just the most flagrant example). Anyway, the locket represents both their relationship and breakup, along with their inability to move on. (similarly to in the Movie how the Honmoon represents the relationship between the girls). It also slyly represents how they both feel about the relationship! "How blinded by anger are they that neither Mira nor Rumi realize that they’re still wearing them?" Ch.9 They both still wear it. They’re not over each other. They never opened it. Rumi first gifted Mira a locket on their first date. Symbolically beginning their relationship. And Rumi was the one to ultimately lead to its end. (I’m assuming this part, but I feel confident that’s how the breakup went. Rumi’s inability to go public with the relationship due to her own fears, mirroring how in the movie the Honmoon was shattered by her hiding her patterns and refusing to open up. Mira got mad, did something dumb, and they both got hurt). Mira then made a copy, and made Rumi promise to never open it. Mira assumes Rumi threw it away (Minecraft incident) because that’s how Mira sees their time together- just a fling for Rumi. She fears that Rumi never really loved her because Rumi refused to go public, and in Mira’s eyes, “Fight” for her. 

Part 2: How is the locket going to be used going forward? 

So, the locket represents in the narrative their entire relationship, breakup and all. This means that whatever is inside it has to be significant to both of them. Something sentimental, and not dumb or vague. Whatever is inside is both something that they want the other to carry but also that they want to be there when it’s opened. 

There’s also the fact that Mira has lost her locket. This plays extremely heavy into what’s inside the locket as it establishes the stakes for the rest of the fic. I’m assuming that the locket is going to be exposed, and their relationship is going to go public. Remember, the locket is the physical representation of their shame. Their Honmoon. Rumi’s marks. Rumi’s character fundamentally will not voluntarily go into the light. She has too much external pressure, trauma, and expectations. And it shattered her last relationship. In the movie, she had to be exposed to the entire world before opening up. I believe arsonide, good author she is, is mirroring this. Instead of Rumi being unmasked on stage, Mira’s locket has something that proves they dated. And it’ll get exposed to the world. Forcing Rumi into the light. And, with fans making the connection that Rumi and Mira are bitter exes, they’ll also notice Mira and Rumi in Zoey’s chat and make the connection. Making her connection to Zoey public too. 

This’ll destroy Rumi, of course, and we’ll get our good angst that has to be coming. So whatever is in the locket has to somehow confirm that Rumi and Mira are exes. It also has to be private. If it’s just a lock of each other’s hair, that confirms the relationship but for maximum angst Mira and Rumi need to be ashamed. So I believe it’ll be something private, intimate. Their relationship broke because Rumi still stubbornly decided to hide, and Mira escalated her anger. (Like raising her Gok-do at Rumi after the reveal in the movie!). So, for Rumi to actually move on, the relationship has to go public to the whole world. She has to be forced into the light, she won’t do it alone because that’s not Rumi. Not at this point. 

Part 3: Theory time! 

So! What’s in it? We know Mira’s got lost, the original, the one Rumi gave her. What could Rumi give her after one date that would be embarrassing, reveal their relationship, and be sentimental to Rumi? 

The most obvious answer is a folded piece of paper with either a photo or a poem or note. Something that can be traced back to Rumi’s signature, can reasonably be folded into a locket, is sweet, but also private. Song lyrics are obvious. There is a small detail that lends credit to this- Ch3! "She takes a picture of the scribbled out lyrics on her notebook, then hesitates as she stares at it and plays with the locket against her chest. There’s no way that Zoey would know what her handwriting looks like, right?" Ch.3 Rumi writes some lyrics to Zoey, briefly worries her handwriting is recognizable, then plays with the locket. The locket that represents her relationship. If she wrote lyrics for Mira and put them in the locket, this connection would be very good foreshadowing. Specifically the “Would she recognize my handwriting?” Would be insane foreshadowing to someone connecting Mira’s locket to Rumi. 

My personal favorite theory is it is a flash drive with a love song on it. In the movie, the Honmoon is strengthened by music. There’s been a lack of music in this fic… Rumi and Zoey are already bonding over it, but Mira is suspiciously absent. The Honmoon is a harmony. Something like a song that Rumi wants Mira to sing would be sweet. Or, a song just meant for her. 

me: i guess

hamlet: [is left on an empty stage] now i am alone

Day 26: Trust

be careful who you believe in

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