Nobody Famous

Inconsistency. And an inability to commit.

The show kept zigzagging where they stood with Chloe. Was she an absolutely terrible person with no redeeming qualities? Or was she a sad rich kid who genuinely wanted to be liked and just didn’t know how to deal with people because of her trashy mom and overly indulgent father? Both things can be true, but the problem is that ultimately neither was. Chloe sucks at being both so she fails at being either.

The show couldn’t seem to make up its mind which of these camps Chloe was supposed to be in and didn’t commit to either option. Furthermore, Chloe wasn’t even the one moving between these camps—she stayed in place, it’s just the line was being moved UNDER her to have her be positioned wherever the narrative wanted her in a specific moment.

So we had zigzagging moments where Chloe was generally horrible and was “whatever” about it vs some really jarring moments where Chloe was sad and we were clearly supposed to feel for her and think she was capable of being more except she did nothing and learned nothing and was still consistently horrible with little to no accountability or repercussion.

The thing is that this duality can be done well. These characters exist. It is fully possible to have a character that can be both horrible but sympathetic. Zuko in Avatar. Grace and Simon in Infinity Train. Ash and Avocato in Final Space. Caine in The Amazing Digital Circus. Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars. Odysseus in Epic the Musical. 

But knowing the reason why someone does what they do does not in any way detract from the fact that what they’re doing is still horrible.

We need to acknowledge the actions are horrible. We need the story’s narrative to acknowledge the actions are horrible. Not laugh them off. Not dismiss them. Not ignore or forget that they happened. Not describe them as being “not that bad“ or “just how they are”. Not deflect by using other characters and especially not by consistently pointing at a character who doesn’t act with the sheer malice and lack of remorse the way this one does and acting like their actions are in any way the same.

Chloe, like Lila, is a tool. The narrative’s stance concerning her and who she even is depends on the scene and who is writing her at the time. But the writers can’t seem to agree and they can’t seem to commit to any one stance, so Chloe is all over the place. She’s horrible without her horrible acts taken seriously as the problem they are and she’s viewed sympathetically without actually being sympathetic. 

for @zoe-oneesama, because you know why.

Okay, so I ran into a problem while writing Number 6 and that I kept getting distracted from the specific character due to other issues that I felt needed to be addressed, but kept taking away from the character in the number six spot, so it seems necessary to make those other issues it’s own essay so I could get my feelings on this issue known and out of the way.

And the issue is simply put: kwamis.

Why? Just why?

Well I already did a take on Dolls in @bigfatbreak’s Villain Dad AU, but for this one…

They observed the small being, considering.

“The little sage holds the power to create vessels for gods…but you aren’t gods, are you? You are something else.”

I’m baby! Chaton expressed proudly, as if that explained it. And perhaps that was enough explanation.

Imago chuckled.

“So you are.”

Chaton was similarly observing the new visitor.

New thing was big. Very big!

Friend? Chaton wondered, staring up at them in curiosity. Friend Inside? Not Friend Inside?

“I am and yet I am not like the kwamis you know.” Imago explained.

Chaton nodded. That made sense! The big one was similar yet different. Big—much bigger than the Friends Inside. And felt samey but not.

Not Friend Inside? Friend Not Inside?

“I can be a friend, though I am not ‘inside’, as you say.”

Chaton beamed and held up a cookie.

Friend!

“Ah. Thank you, how kind.”

Imago carefully took the cookie.

“Friend, indeed. I rather like that idea.”

It was rather unusual for them to receive gifts. They weren’t sure how they felt.

It was a new, rather warm sort of feeling.

================

Imago was used to tests. To judgement and evaluation. The previous sage had him and the others perform constantly with a variety of trials. He was hard and strict, insisting on rules only they seemed required to follow and expectations of constant deference to him. When they were allowed to speak to him. How to speak to him. Giving them tests and trials and tasks to complete to prove that they are worthy.

Always being tested. Always being judged.

And always—ALWAYS somehow lacking.

These new tests were not pleasant…

…but they were nothing in comparison.

Not hurt? The red doll questioned, suspicious.

“No.”

Do not hurt? She asked once more.

“No.”

Will not hurt? She pressed.

They raised one hand and covered where their heart would be with the other. “I have not, do not, and will not intend to hurt the little sage or your loved ones.”

The doll tilted her head, assessing them cautiously.

Then she lifted her hand up to them.

Promise?

Ah. It wasn’t a test so much as reassurance she was seeking. They could understand the feeling. It was what they and the others had so desperately sought in the past as they jumped through the various hoops the previous sage demanded of them in the desperate hope of being chosen to be given form and join this world.

They held her hand in their own.

“I promise, little one. I will not harm you or yours.”

She smiled.

Then she gestured them to come closer.

Curious, they lowered their head.

The little one reached behind her and pulled out—

“Oh!” 

It was a ring of flowers! Which she gently placed on their head.

“Ah.” They didn’t quite know what to say to that.

Except perhaps…

“Thank you, little one.”

She smiled and nodded. Then she gave their nose a gentle pat before walking away to rejoin her father.

Imago brought a finger to the…‘flower crown’, was it called? The petals were soft and silky. And the crown felt so fragile they were almost afraid to touch it.

…they rather liked it.

That’s a good point!

Even outside of the Unity ending, if you think about it, technically, all the monsters and creations are result of The Entity. Technically that makes it their creator.

Technically that makes it a dad.

There are also two other things to consider:

First, that Littlebug is magic! It’s not obvious magic, but her magic is actually very powerful and wide reaching—the sort of magic that lets her get an outcome she wants.

Look Outside takes place in relatively normal world that does not have magic or magical beings. The closest exception would be The Entity, which is less of a magical being and more of an eldritch abomination that simply warps reality by existing rather than any intentional alterations through magic. 

In that sense, magic could arguably be a defense against it.

Second, all the twisted monstrosities The Entity creates are some variety of former humans or animals/insects or otherwise living beings.

Littlebug, on the other hand, is a doll. A living doll, yes, but still a doll. One that was already brought to life prior to The Enitity’s arrival. And one with a very different perception than humans—capable of seeing and sensing and just perceiving things humans can’t.

It could be argued that her magic and the nature of her own creation could protect her from losing her mind (because she doesn’t technically have one) or losing her form (because the nature of her magic lets her have the form she chooses).