stormymindpalaceofdoom

When I shipped Invisimech, I ultimately liked the idea of two people falling for the other from different standings. There is something romantic about two people learning to grow together and want one another despite coming different sides of life— one a villain, and one a hero.

However, I struggled to like the portrayal of how their interactions escalated and the interactions overall throughout. I initially tried to dismiss it. Here is what I expressed in a discord chat not long ago:

“See the hard thing for me is I am still uncomfortable with the way the invisigal kiss was written, but I understand how it made sense for her character and in the context her and Robert’s base dynamic, as well as the unrealistic social norms set by the cast of characters (what I mean is, the z-team, as well as Mandy, push boundaries that would easily be called out in real life. Hence the memes of ‘hr violation simulator’.) I have mixed feelings about narratives that do this, mostly because we can become what we consume, and if these are the narratives people will grow up with, I’d like to see more of the portrayal in a rightly addressed manner and not overlooked. For this reason, I’m glad Robert is portrayed with clear discomfort in Malevola’s grabbing. He at least voices it. I wish Visi or Royd would’ve acknowledged it once it happened, but the way the narrative is written, it seems that the norm is to not acknowledge those kind of boundaries being pushed. Mandy still got drunk doing an interview. She peeked at Robert getting undressed, and she also casually flashed him her breast in her office when she tried on a new dress. It’s not really acknowledged much as it would be in real life, or at least as it should be in real life.

So when I looked at dispatch, I think I decided there was an intentional difference of what the writers portrayed to be the norm in the narrative as opposed to what it is in real life. More vulgar and explicit humor; in other words, more “casual hr violations.” In real life, these things wouldn’t fly. I especially wouldn’t be comfortable with the way Visi went about the kiss it if a person did that to me in real life. Even if I had a flirty dynamic, in real life verbalizing consent is personally a big value for me. But here’s another thing: I’m not Robert. That’s also something I had to take into account when interpreting how Visi and him interact with one another.

Where I think it differs is that he is really dead-pannedly amused by a lot of her behavior throughout the story, even in the route he doesn’t romance her. Royd will still note the weird energy between the two— the physical attraction/tension. Robert teases her back with the same level of unhinged humor and will entertain her explicit approaches. He’s so casual when she told him about her dream. I think Visi pushes to see his limits, and he doesn’t voice that he’s uncomfortable during those times. If he was uncomfortable with her advances, like with Malevola, he’d say it. All this to say, I’m not excusing that the kiss should’ve been portrayed with more clear consent. But I’m saying it made sense why Visi’s character kissed Robert by surprise, as he didn’t mind her freaky dream about him and would partake in explicit banter with her.

Visi is also incredibly impulsive, and from her perspective, it’s the last chance she’d get to express to Robert that she really wants to be with him. She was leaving the locker room to go play double agent and hoping to walk away from it alive with his trust not broken. She didn’t know how to explain it all, and obviously couldn’t explain to him what she was involved in, so it made sense that in the moment, she was desperate. She acted without much thought further, desperate to take her chances with him. I’m not excusing the approach and how I believe it could’ve been better, but I do understand the reason behind her character, of how she got there.”

I think the difficult thing in how I analyzed the characters and the storytelling is that I don’t like how the numerous characters treat one another inappropriately throughout the story, but this is how the writers wrote them and the way they are written is very consistent. I considered the consistency of jarring, vulgar characterization as some aspect of world-building— to say that “it’s just the way things are in this fictional setting”— that therefore I could dismiss it and force myself to skim over what I don’t like in order to satiate the indulgence of the enemies-to-lovers trope. In other words, the narrative was so set in its inappropriate social norms amongst the cast of characters that I reasoned it was fine to overlook the bad behaviors as it was their normal… but it isn’t what I want to be my normal and I hope it wouldn’t become the normal of the real world. The characters being okay with this as their norm ultimately clashed with what I was personally comfortable with wanting as my norm, and that’s why I had so many mixed feelings about this ship for a while.

Gortys: I made you something! (She hands Fiona a flower crown. It fits perfectly around the trim of her hat.)

Fiona: (Gushing) Oh, thank you! That’s so sweet.

Gortys: (Takes off the one she herself is wearing, and offers it to Rhys.) And for you, Rhys!

Rhys: Heh, thank you, Gortys. I love it.

Gortys: I wanted to make you one, too, even though it’s Mother’s Day 

Fiona: (Brows furrowed) Wait— you made these because it’s Mother’s Day? 

Gortys: Well, yeah! (She happily gestures to Fiona) You’re my mom. (Then to Rhys) And you’re my dad! You guys came together and made me—

Rhys and Fiona: (Startled and blushing heavily.)

Rhys: U-um, wait a second—

Fiona: Oh, ah Gortys—

Rhys: Us, together? M-making uh—

Gortys: (Gazes up at both of them with the cutest round eyes of all of the galaxies.)

Rhys and Fiona: (Pause and look at one another, braving the awkward tension between the both of them. Rhys sheepishly smiles and shrugs. Fiona nervously brushes her hair aside, turning back to Gortys.)

Fiona: (With a small smile) Well, Gortys. I’m happy to be your mom.

Rhys: And I’m uh, happy to be your dad.

Gortys: Aww, yay! You guys~ (She spins in a small circle with joy.) Well, I have to get back to work now. Oh! Before I leave, I wanted to ask you guys something.

Rhys: (Mumbling) Please don’t be about the birds and the bees…

Fiona: (Lightly punches his shoulder) Shush!

Rhys: >:(

Gortys: I was wondering what it would be like to have a human sibling. Do you guys think you’d ever make a human kid someday?

Rhys: …

Fiona: …

Rhys: I have a meeting—

Fiona: Yeah, I gotta go!

Rhys: Let’s talk another time, Gortys—

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‧˚❀❁I think it's even funnier if you interpret that this scene is happening before Rhyiona starts dating, and they're just being very awkward while not admitting their feelings towards one another. Y'know, convincing themselves that their prolonged eye contact is 100% platonic.❁❀˚‧