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Aaauuurraaaaaaahfhr Oxy you've done it again!! Made my heart soar with this really intricate, detailed analysis!! Pretty much everything you've mentioned was spot on- and I wholly appreciate you liking my writing style, even if this "game" was less that and more a visual novel..sort of!

I felt, like with some sort of analogy with snow or thinking winter is almost over... only for something to change and the weather gets really bad might coincide with Var's feelings of "is this right? Is this OK? Am I allowed to be this happy, when I've shut out everyone?" 

Var was always a lonely individual. I think he especially moved out to the mountains because he was both sure no one would "try to find him", but also, somewhat creating this "obstacle course" of a trek it would take- like, 

"no one cares about me. But if they do, then they'd have to prove it by making the effort to seek me out." Even though he craves human connection anyway.

 Like he's purposely torturing himself because he thinks he deserves it- he should be "punished" for "daring" to think he'd be someone worth being friends with, communicating with, and so forth. 

I always wanted the idea of Bora to be like an enigma- I love the interpretation some have gotten of whether he was even real to begin with. Was Var just that lonely that he'd imagine up some kind of individual that would make the effort? The kind of person who would unabashedly listen to him, talk to him, SMILE at him?? Maybe. 

Var never believed he "deserved" things, a lot of it stemming from childhood trauma, as represented by his father's silhouette- like "Ah. Needing comfort and safety/the warmth of another human, familial or otherwise, is selfish. I see." And he was always struggling with figuring out whether that was really true or not.

I like to make lots of flavor text to help shape a character- what goes on in someone's head when they think about the things in their home, what certain things meant to them, especially Var in this instance because, if he moved here with his personal belongings, just what did he bring with him that meant anything/was sentimental enough to make the effort, if that makes sense? (Like why bring specific books? Do they mean xyz to you etc.)

I've always been a fan of old GBC type games, and specifically had an idea of something reminiscent of the 2nd gen of pokemon as my main inspiration for the limited palette- the Gameboy green was really fun to use in this instance as well as capturing a liminal feel that felt almost contrast to the heavier atmosphere of the meat of the game- (I recall a comment my mother once made, holding a small cartridge of a Gameboy game, she said "are you sure you want something so tiny?" As if the size of the item, or in this instance, the "look and feel" of the pixel/simply drawn genre isn't conducive to how emotional a story can be. Basically: I love games made in rpg maker, because you can tell a huge story with just a few pixels!)

I always struggle with stories that include some sort of "supernatural entity", because the logical part of my mind always thinks of plot holes or "but how would anyone know or not know about this" or "why does xyz thing happen to just one character- what made them so "special" that something "supernatural " would happen to them anyway?"- forgetting that mystery, horror and of course, fiction on general, allows for any kind of creative writing- a big thing I tried to let go of was the "how" or "why" the supernatural thing happened, and more like "sometimes things happen that you can't explain in words alone, or even in a way that people would believe you."- that kind of thing. 

I think I stifle myself by being too literal sometimes. Forget the "why does xyz fantastical thing happen", and letting myself mix a bit of "fantasy" in an otherwise "realistic" world.

As a matter of fact, I *am* working on an alternate universe game with these two, because I also grew rather attached to them j _ j which is rare for me with Rpgmaker characters- they're usually one shot/single use characters I create for the game they're made for and then that's all, but seeing as how myself and my husband cried at my own playthrough of this silly game, I felt especially attached 😭 😭 😭 

Giving my own characters the opposite of torture...what a concept! Haha! I love your wishes for what Var could become later- someone who could move on or find happiness in his own way... it's a rather optimistic outlook that I haven't read from many other interpretations, and it's very sweet to think about how maybe, someday, he can find that feeling- even if it's not in the same world. 

Aaaah thank you again so so much for such a beautifully written comment (well, commentS) about my game!! I hope you'll look forward to Var and Bora's alternate story eventually ^w^