mechanon side notes (trigger warning for discussion of religious materials and irl cult shit, specifically Mormonism, or the church of latter day saints. Also spawn cult typical ritual murder talk) (this is a long one but I swear I have a Point)
I was yapping to my girlfriend right. As one does. Trying to figure out characterization for Azure and Two Time pre-sacrifice as you do. And I have made the executive decision that the Spawn Cult? It's Mormonism.
Hear me out. We KNOW that the Spawn ISN'T FUCKING REAL. in canon and out of canon. It's all a lie. Within mechanon lore (which I have neglected to mention til now but I have been writing in cohorts with my beloved girlfriend, this is a surprise tool that will help us later) the Spawn Cult was made up by someone making bullshit lore about Spawn anchors and making up a deity to get followers and money. Who else made up a crackpot bullshit claim in the name of God to get money and followers? That's right, Joseph Smith, founder of the Jesus Christ Church of Latter Day Saints.
Mormons are taught they always must keep a smile on their face, no matter what. Who always keeps a rictus grin that never quite reaches their eyes? Two Time.
Mormon doctrine states that love isn't affection or accepting someone no matter what, true love is chastisement and encouragement to keep on the straight and narrow path (that's a Mormon thing, by the way, the phrase The Straight And Narrow Path). Two Time was likely taught something similar or even identical by Amarah growing up. True love is punishment, to guide the wandering soul back to the light of the Spawn.
On the topic of the straight and narrow path, mormons believe there is exactly one perfect way to live their entire lives in order to reach the highest kingdom of Heaven and ascend to personal godhood, a perfect life which includes secret codes, hidden rituals, and constant attempts to have the perfect body and soul. Two Time may very well have been under similar pressures, dressing and acting in certain very specific ways, keeping their body in check, being prepared to have children to bare into the cult, performing rituals with members of their community that would seem strange and off-putting to the normal sense.
We know that Azure was a convert to the Spawn cult, possibly brought in by Two Time. Mormons are trained their entire lives to recruit more people as mormons. You are not living your life correctly if you do not serve a mission, where you spend all day, every day, for weeks and months, going door to door trying to convert people, where you are never allowed to be alone at any time except in the bathroom, where it's regular to pray and cry for hours at a time every night with your group. I think it's extremely likely that the Spawn cult also sends out their people on missions, a lot of the rhetoric that I see people write Two Time spouting sounds eerily like Mormon talking points. Azure may have been someone recruited on one of these missions.
The biggest connection I want to draw here is between temple endowment and sacrifice to the spawn. For LDS members, once you reach a certain level of age and maturity, you are allowed into the temple and into the presence of God. For the first time, you witness what your parents and every adult friend has already experienced: knock off Free Mason illuminati secret handshakes and passcodes bullshit, that you are made to memorize and repeat back, because you need to be able to say these passwords and do these handshakes for the angels at the gates of each of the Kingdoms of Heaven to be allowed passage. You're anointed and given your garments (Mormon magic underwear) and then and only then are you a proper member of the Church.
The point I'm making, is that most Mormon kids are not allowed to know anything about this up until their endowment. They don't know they live in a cult, let alone THAT kind of cult. If a Mormon teenager wanted to get out, it would arguably be easier for them than someone who has already gone through endowment, because they are learning that everything in their life has been leading up to this ridiculous farce, this has been the entire point of their lives that they've been made to profess their belief in the truth and righteousness of over and over. It's a destabilizing and isolating experience, and the reason most Mormon adults never escape the cult.
Now imagine Two Time, young, happy, who loves Azure very much. They believe in the truth of the Spawn, they will proclaim so day in and out, happily prosteletize to anyone who listens, and they're happy to share this with their mentor and partner. And one day, Amarah pulls Two Time away for a very important meeting with some elders. And those elders tell them that they are set to do great and wonderful things in the eyes of the Spawn... They just have to do one thing. Something many people in their community have done, something important to secure their place in the Spawn's embrace as one of its truest followers. They need to kill Azure.
And how fucked up is it for them to learn that their people ritually murder their converts because they'll never be on the level of someone born into their religion? That they just learn it now, when they're being told they must do so too? When they're being told they have to, for the god they love?
Even if it makes their gut churn, even if it makes them feel all kinds of wrong, what are their options? Run away, abandon everything they know and everything they love? Or do it, stay on the straight and narrow, pursue perfection in the eyes of their God?
What other choice do they have?
I rest my case.
-mechanon
[Holy fucking shit. Oh my god. /pos]
[Mechanon this is actually such a cool deep dive. It makes sense and gives a really good reason as to why Two Time behaves the way they do. This is genuinely intriging.]
[And the whole thing about sacrificing Azure because he would've never been pure by the cult's standards?? Heartbreaking but fuckin' amazing. Oh how I love this.]
[I will be thinking about this for a while. You've now plagued my thoughts for quite some time.]
