#e!false

first of all before we even get into the signs in there I want to just emphasize the cruelty of this. obviously, bad enough that efalse was locked up by hcfalse. but there are so many little things driving me nuts about this:

so there's the obvious: it's small and it's dark. so at first, the choice of a redstone torch just struck me as a twist of the knife since it gives off less light than a normal torch. but I think it has something to do with the mechanism blocking the door. (note that I'm not a redstone expert + I forgot to test this before closing the game lol.) The lever outside lowers the bottom block when it's de-powered. I thought it was weird that there was a simple redstone device blocking the door and then efalse had access to a redstone torch herself. But I think it's possible that the torch in her cell can be used to power the piston attached to the upper block and cause it to retract? I don't think she'd be able to reach the lever outside from that angle either. If I had to guess, I'd say that maybe this is so that efalse can open essentially a "window" to see out into the lab/hcfalse. The bottom block being controlled separately would allow for hcfalse to slide food underneath even when efalse didnt want to open her side (and im sure hcfalse wouldve had ways to force entry into the cell as well). I just think there's something very heartbreaking and fitting about a door that needs both of them to open completely </3 it also appears like there's a sort of "airlock" fail-safe where there are iron bars before reaching the actual lab. so hcfalse could lock that behind her before doing anything with the door into efalses room. efalse said she'd killed hcfalse many times before--this "in-between" room seems like an area where that easily could have happened.

one last thing on this in-between room: an extra dash of cruelty that there's a painting here. efalse would (presumably) be unable to get into this room without hcfalses permission. so she can have a bit of decoration in her cell, but only at hcfalse's whim. and only a painting of a monster staring at her, at that

and the WINDOWS. god. efalse's cell has windows! except they're underground! and it's not just bare stone--there's black concrete placed on the other side of the glass, same as what's blocking the cell door. she can't actually see anything through them.

I think it's also worth assuming that the glow lichen probably wasn't there when efalse was, since the patchiness of it seems to be trying to convey signs of the lab deteriorating as it's left sealed off after efalses escape. which means it would've been even darker in there...

and of course, THE SIGNS. I had heard that there was a sign left in the lab, so imagine my surprise when I walked into the cell and found all of these:

a better photo of the signs in the above image. (also I thought about giving myself night vision or otherwise increasing the brightness, but I think the gloominess of the original setting adds to the effect) from top to bottom, they read:

"make it stop"

"ticktocktick // tock // ticktick // tok"

"picture it. // remember it"

and the signs when you face the cell door, from top to bottom/left to right (don't worry about the signs on the far left or far right, I'll get to those in a sec. this is just the signs on the far wall/floor)

"DON'T FORGET IT // DON'T"

"don't forget! // promise mE!"

"remember // EVERYTHING // make sure you // REMEMBER!!"

"SHE DID THIS // NOT YOU"

"when will this // headache end"

"LET ME OUT // I PROMISE I'LL BE // GOOD" ougougugh

and of course: