#ignis ask

Yeah, that's part of the plan. It would be pretty shitty of me to have your girlfriend dump you and then force you into single-life for the rest of the series, wouldn't it? :/

I've mentioned this... on the forum, I think, but you'll be able to get involved with Latooni like, a few hours after the break-up happens. It won't be a full relationship when it happens, obviously, but you'll be set up kind of well by the time of Book 2. Iris is also a romanceable character that'll only join the main cast in Book 2, as well, and if anything, I think going for her after getting burned by Ignis would be a pretty interesting dynamic.

Send me 🔺 for your muse to sit on mine while mine does push ups! // Accepting@sagefiredaggers

52, 53, 54–

The sound Gladio let out when he felt a weight settle on his back was - if anything - somewhat pathetic. It wasn’t a weight he couldn’t handle. Honestly, it was appreciated, as doing pushups with no extra weight added was simply too easy.

“Mornin’, Iggy,” he said, knowing exactly who it was even without having to look. Of course, living alone with the guy did help narrow down the amount of possible perpetrators, given that the only ones living there were Ignis, Gladiolus and Ignis’ cat. And since it was obviously not the cat, it could only be his lover.

He steadied himself on one arm and did a few more pushups before pausing and carefully glancing over his shoulder. A chuckle left him at the sight. Ignis was casually reading the newspaper while holding a steaming mug of Ebony coffee. It wasn’t the first time Ignis had casually sat down on him while he was doing pushups. Ever since that one time the shield had asked him to, Ignis would settle on his back every now and then to help, even without being asked to.

It never ceased to amuse Gladiolus.

This is a bit complicated, but the short answer is 'Yes-ish'. Let me explain.

Ignis was always meant to be in love with Seeker. This has been the case since the very first draft I posted of the game back in 2021, one of the very first things you learn about her is that she is attracted to him, and he has yet to reciprocate.

And their relationship has always been an integral part of the story. The way Ignis and Seeker trust each other, the way they interact, and, being honest, and the way they both care for each other more than for the rest of the League combined has always been something I intended to be part of the story. Ignis and Seeker have the deepest relationship of the whole cast, they have changed each other, and, in more than one way, they complete each other. Ignis is the first light in Seeker's life since Victoria stopped being around, and Seeker is... probably the only reason Ignis is even around.

At the point the MC joins the team, I don't believe Ignis or Seeker could function without the other. They don't know how to not need each other any more.

There are two big reveals in Book 1 of AToH. One of them has to do with Aki and Forlorn, but the other is Seeker's, and approximately half of it is dedicated purely to Ignis's reaction, to her proving how inexorably the two of them are tied, and to showing that there exists nothing in the universe that will make them ever let go of each other.

And I made a mistake.

Originally, AToH was only going to have three romances: Aki, Latooni, and Nova. A lot has changed since that idea, but those are the three I always knew I wanted to write. I received a bit of backlash because of that, stuff like 'too few options', 'only one male RO?', and even complaints that Aki and Lat were too basic, or... too overused (I have played every game on Jason Hill's platform. There is no character in there like Aki).

I don't begrudge people who made those comments. Criticism is how authors grow, of course, and those comments helped me grow. I ended up creating Iris, expanding Mars' role, and sidelining Dark Star.

But I overcorrected. I began to consider if Ignis and Seeker's relationship couldn't be written platonically- after all, plenty of superhero stories make a big point of the bonds of friendship. Ignis and Seeker didn't have to be a successful Batman and Wonder Woman, they could just be Goku and Bulma, right?

Wrong. The more I thought about it, the more I realized the climax, the reveal, the characters themselves don't work without both being desperately in love. If I don't have Ignis and Kratis declare they love each other at the game's climax, then there is no point to writing the story. It took me a while to understand that, but I did, eventually.

But as you can obviously see, that didn't mean the MC's relationship with Ignis was scrapped.

And the fandom has a lot of takes about that. Some are subtle, some are not. Some are hostile, some are not. Some are rational pieces, others are impassioned comments.

But the one thing they all have in common is that they're wrong.

I am not writing the path as some sort of punishment, or exercise in hurting the reader. It's certainly not done because I want to scam whoever ends up reading the story, or because I 'don't understand what a RO is'.

I'm writing the Ignis RO because it serves the narrative. It is probably the path I spend the most time thinking about, it has the largest build-up, and it is the path that has the biggest pay-off in narrative weight.

If AToH was to have anything close to a 'canon' path, Ignis would be it.

now i want seeker to cuck her too.😤

Well, it's not 'cucking', no. That implies there's cheating or some sort, which isn't ever going to be the case.

The MC and Ignis will have their relationship, it will end, and only then will things begin happening between Ignis and Seeker.

As for the second part, I wouldn't count too hard on it. You'll see one snippet of it in Chapter 5 (assuming you can pass the check and get the hint), but Seeker is very much a doormat when it comes to his partners. He acts based on what he thinks they'd do, and basically his entire view on what 'Seeker' represents and must do is based on what Victoria either taught him, or what he thinks Victoria would do. I have mentioned it before (either here or on the forums, I think), but that relationship was very much Victoria going 'I want to-' and Kratis going along with it with basically no objection.

It's going to be the same with Ignis... At least at first. The women in Seeker's life hold the reins, and he's never considered taking them himself. Seeker isn't going to do something that Victoria or Ignis haven't told him to.

It's part of why I keep saying 'Ignis has a guy that will destroy D.C. if she asks'. If that request ever actually comes forth (god forbid it comes from Victoria, speaking of), D.C. is gone.

Also asking for a friend, why does Mars exist? (This is a bait, tell me all the possible lore I can get from this)

Probably not, no. The idea is that these are going to be mutual, clean breaks, which are decided because... well, it's not going to work. It's something that comes at the MC's prodding, and so it doesn't really... make sense to me, I suppose, to allow the MC to hate Ignis for it, for example? Or, rather, I can see how it would come to that, but it feels like the kind of overt drama that I'm not really sure I want to explore (since we're already getting plenty of petty drama, anyway :p).

As for Mars... Have you ever been in a situation where you know someone sucks, or that they're not a good person, but you owe them a debt anyway, and you feel like you have to pay them back for it? That's more or less what's going on.

Mars's family had issues in the past, very serious ones, and they are issues which Mars blames himself for. He couldn't solve them himself, which is when Stratton came around and offered them all a shoulder to lean on.

Now... Mars feels indebted because of that. He doesn't agree with Stratton politically, economically, or even on what's the best burger place, but that doesn't matter. Mars owes a debt, and to pay it back, he's going to shut his mouth, stand behind Stratton, and stifle his own dreams.

He's a bit of an opposing character to Nova in that regard. Nova didn't owe a personal debt, but (part of) his family does, and in their attempt to 'pay it back', they made Nova's life incredibly painful. Nova's family believes that they all just need to grin and bear it, because that's what they have all been taught, but the whole 'suffer quietly because that's what is expected of you' track doesn't resonate with Nova, so he... broke the circle and left. He shouldn't have to put his own wellbeing, both physical and mental, as well as his future, on the backburner, for the sake of someone that proves every single day they do not care for it.

I wish I was heir to a trillion dollar fortune and had a boyfriend who'll kill entire governments if I say 'please'. :p

Nah, Ignis isn't the one I mean when I say the most 'self-insert' member of the cast is a girl.

Just between us, but 'a permanent place to live' is... quite the high hope for the MC's future. :p

There's a lot of changes coming in by the end of Book 1! You'll like, uh... most of them.

Ignis: “I won’t run for the hills with Seeker.”

Ignis: “So actually, that wasn’t a total lie. I’m running for the hills with Seeker AND Victoria….😬. We can still be teammates though? 😬”

Well, that's assuming you'll learn what Forlorn's whole goal was with promising to help, and that's not entirely assured.

...Then again, you're going to figure out, uh, a lot of Forlorn's secrets as the story goes on. Methinks you're gonna have other, greater reasons to be pissed at him.

I know Aki will be.