I'm really glad you liked it (or at least I assume you did)! I did definitely have you in mind a little with respect to whether or not this would be a fun read for you given what you liked about Purple Prose; it is at least definitely where my head as at right now although it certainly isn't the only thing I have in mind to do this year. I enjoy seeing what your impressions were. ^^
- Jeanne Pink/Lowell sticking out for you pleases me some since I did in some respects feel that his emotional dilemma reflects something about Sentai that I wouldn't EXACTLY say bothers me but is at the heart of what I feel inverting the gender structure that's typical for them brings about. I hope to bring him some peace too although I expect that the road he'll take to get there is at least mildly complicated. ty for the compliment about his opening background; that might have been the one that took the most time to get right. (also yeah those animal barstools are frankly incredible to me)
- Hera-Izanami and Gille are definitely additions I'd like to make here and going forward. They didn't quite end up coming together in a way that would've worked within the NaNoRenO timeframe but I felt keeping their scene was justifiable plus I just kinda liked it and where it fit with the others.
- The clasped hands are actually Sophia's clasped hands (shes holding her arms together in front of her for a couple of sprites) so that isn't a part of her uniform. My art is...a work in progress lol.
- The last scene with Atlas and what surrounds it is definitely important in terms of what I was sort of hoping to do with this conceptually so I'm quite happy parts of it stuck with you. That and Sophia and Erika's shared scene is a bit that I was a little nervous about getting right? idk. I'm glad your favorite part was part of that as it was something I worried might be a bit gratuitous or unearned.
- Which, incidentally, I think I understand Patroclus Yellow/Sophia being your favorite; I'm also a little relieved by that? Like, I definitely I think put a fair amount of weight on her but she's definitely the one of the five I found the most challenge in writing as she is a little outside of my character writing comfort zone, haha.
Thank you for reading and for sharing your feedback with me! I'm still sort of hammering out how precisely to keep this going since I both enjoyed writing and putting it together and did set parts of it up with the intention of getting to deliver on them but I hope to be able to satisfy your expectations going forward both with future Acts and with the other ideas I have rattling around.