Tired BastardTM

First off- Dan Heng is a very protective person. He is past 'ride or die'. He gets so anxious about his family, and does not ever want to let any farm befell them, regardless be the cost he needs to pay as long as its only him paying it. During the borisin stuff, when he and the Trailblazer are trapped in the prison- a place where half of Dan Heng's trauma occured, he still stated that he would let himself die before the Trailblazer. Evernight knows this- she attempted the masquerade as March as evident by the snippet of conversation we got of the two of them. She failed, because Dan Heng knows March so closely he knows the type of thing she would and wouldnt remember- and same with what the Trailblazer would remember, because he asked the same question during the Strife trial. The TB remembered they did not speak, but March wouldnt. Not because Dan Heng deems her forgetful, but because he knows March is the person who would miss something small like that when compared to the other larger events- Dan Heng's new appearance, him parting the waters, the fight with Phantylia, Dan Heng choosing to stay on the Express. He knew Evernight wasnt March, because of that. But the reason why Evernight chose to attempt and masquerade as March?

Because the situation with Evernight, is exactly the situation that haunts Dan Heng. He is so afraid of Dan Feng overtaking him, of his past, of his memories what fragments of them he does have. Evernight is clearly a different person than March, because March is almost certainly such a small fragment of the life they've lived, and she is March's past self and past memories 'hijacking' her body. Which is again, one of Dan Hengs biggest fucking fears. Dan Heng wouldnt be accepting of that in the slightest especially paired with it happening to someone he considers his family. It also goes to show that Evernight herself does know Dan Heng, because she attempted to avoid Dan Heng's hostility by pretending to be March. Unfortunately, she isnt, and Dan Heng recognized it all too well. She wasnt actively antagonistic though- if anything she was teasing. Which March is, she is teasing, particularly towards TB and Dan Heng. Evernight seems to be the same- but it comes across more condescending in comparison to March's teasing.

We dont have the entire conversation between Dan Heng and Evernight, theres about a 50/50 chance we'll get that expanded in 3.6 tbh. For all we know, Evernight was being antagonistic after all, but considering what part they did choose to give us Id doubt it, especially when paired with the rest of what we got from Evernight.

With the Trailblazer however? Evernight didnt bother to present herself as March in the slightest. Part of that was absolutely due to the fact we met her right when a bunch of Garden mfs were trying to pretend to be March- which the Trailblazer also immediately clocked as not being March. Evernight didnt bother to pretend to be March, and stated as much "I dont want to lie to you, which is why i will not use her name". She also used memories to convince Trailblazer of her identity. Theres little to prove she couldnt have done that for Dan Heng as well, but with Dan Heng, it wouldnt have helped, it would just be read as manipulation. For the Trailblazer however, not only would they trust that- they would also have the ability (and have shown it in the past) to discern whether they were memories that were taken or messed with. Reality vs Fiction is one of the Trailblazers skills in a way. Evernight did not pretend to be March, but she was fairly candid in being apart of March, or perhaps its more apt to say its the other way around.

Evernight likely took this approach because of how the Trailblazer is as a person. When it comes to people they consider their family, or particularly close friends- they are always incredibly trusting- even when they've been lied too. The Trailblazer themself has no proper recollection of the Stellaron Hunters, but they still trust them- they still go when Kafka calls for them even if they are wary, they still hang out with Silver Wolf, the entire fucking Firefly/Sam situation. The Trailblazer is someone who can recognize when someone intends to harm or particularly deceive them/their family, often times subconsciously. They trusted Firefly and Acheron and Robin on Penacony, they distrusted Sampo-Sparkle, Sparkle herself, Sunday, Black Swan, Aventurine. Firefly and Acheron did not deceive them to harm them, but to protect their own identities, and as far as I recall the Trailblazer was hurt but moved on fairly quickly even when factoring the fact they were short on time, Black Swan and Aventurine didnt really intend to harm them, but they certainly were acting with their own best interests in mind. Evernight was witness to this all through March- she would know that being candid about her identity would be the safest bet in comparison to offering aid while trying to deceive them. She acted familiar with them- which imo the Trailblazer is fucking WEAK to tbh, the Hunters obviously being the most blatant example- she called them 'dear' and 'My dear name' which March canonically does (asdkhsabdksabd Marchblazer my beloved) and promised to not only watch them but also to give them answers when she could.

The Trailblazer is not someone easy to deceive- they are not stupid. Even when they are being deceived, they are able to figure it out, often based off of a gut feeling. They are a trusting person, but not naïve. They could tell the difference between the Garden-March's and Evernight- they could tell that the memokeepers(snatchers?) werent March because while they seemed to replicate her and have her memories, they were off. They know their March, and they trust her. One of the dialogue options before getting back to Amphoreus literally says as much. "I trust in March... even if she no longer looks the same." This isnt the first time someone they trust has appeared after an absence with a new form as well.

Evernight attempted to deceive Dan Heng because she's the culmination of his greatest fears- a past self over taking the current, and 'harm' coming to someone he cares about (without him having been able to do anything to stop it.) and so being entirely blatant about her identity wouldnt have gone over well. Basically there was no good option when it came to approaching Dan Heng because of who he is as a person. Meanwhile Evernight spoke the truth to the Trailblazer because the TB cares a lot about the truth and their companions and the easiest way to get the TB to trust them was to be entirely candid, because of who the Trailblazer is and how they respond to their companions.

While on the topic of Evernight, I also want to bring up two more interesting things. First off- Evernight is the one who fucking yoinked Cyrene from the grove before Lygus backroomed the Trailblazer. We dont get an answer as to why but I do have a guess. We dont exactly have an answer as to how Cyrene got into the Exomyth. Or how she could seemingly go between Amphoreus and the Exomyth. I wouldnt be surprised if that ability of hers, was a mixture between her being the Trailblazers Memosprite, and Evernight's efforts. Evernight is shown to be able to manipulate things to some degree- she pulled us from the Exomyth into Path Space before sending us back into Amphoreus (or more accurately her memosprites did.) We've seen Cyrene in Path space before, which.. is questionable as well considering she's the Trailblazers memosprite. Its likely though, that thats cycle 0 Cyrene, or a fragment of her (like March is a fragment of Evernight?)

Cyrene was pulled from the Grove right before Lygus backroomed The Trailblazer, along with a warning only Cyrene could hear, and a 'I finally found you'. Whether that was directed at Cyrene or The Trailblazer... I have no clue. Both wouldnt be surprising. In the cutscene where we basically zip bomb Lygus, right at the end, we see Cyrene doing a glitchy teleportation thing that looks eerily like what Lygus did to send us into the Exomyth for a millennium. Mem/Cyrene was seemingly able to tap into the simulations framework through 'As I've Written' which is a canonical thing considering the literal reference Cyrene makes to it before parting ("Let that bright future be "As We Have Written") And through Cyrene the TB could also mess with the simulation- hence the zip bombing. Herta and Screwllum basically outright state that they are not capable of doing something like it on their own, that Cyrene and TB are vital to their plan (and that they consider the Trailblazer their trump card) which makes sense due to the Remembrance aspect.

Evernight most likely pulled Cyrene out of the Grove directly into the Path Space- most likely to talk. Possibly even clue her in on things, considering Cyrene seemed aware of what she (And TB) would be capable of when Cyrene was talking with Screwy and Herta. Cyrene seemed 100% fine. She wasnt in the cycle when we arrived past as a memory because she was already back in the Exomyth, awaiting the next part of the plan. But she was in the 3m...37th cycle not as a memory but as our memosprite, up until Hyacine's sacrifice. After that, she likely returned to the exomyth, likely right as the TB was leaving or in Path Space. All things considered, with Cyrene being the Trailblazers memosprite, she could have very well been harmed had she been there when the Trailblazer was booted. (And Lygus 100% did whatever he did to be able to cage us before the cycle began when we first spoke to him) so Evernight pulled her before hand likely as a way to both speak to her, and in a way protect her.

(One last thing about Cyrene, when she said "But that's already happened, hasnt it?" I dont think she was referring to TB having forgotten her before. Well. Maybe. IMO theres two things she could be referring to- One, she could be referring to TB getting trapped in the Exomyth, hence cutting off the connection they have. As for why she didnt go poof.. well, that ties into above- Evernight could have saved her from that. Evernight is a connected to the Remembrance after all, it wouldnt be that big of a stretch that she could. Or two, rather than referring to her current self and the Trailblazer.. she could be referring to her original self, Khaslana and Amphoreus; and how Khaslana killed her over and over to remove Time from Amphoreus.)