I read a comment that someone felt Hinterlands III dragged, whereas I just wanted it to keep going. I loved the story up until that point, but every Hinterlands section is just overflowing with symbolism and double-meanings. I look forward to reading what you've found if you end up posting about it here. I hope you end up playing the ruthless route if you haven't already, because everything you're saying about the beach seems to be tied to Asterion and the labyrinth itself, especially its inability to produce salt. 

I've been thinking about the nature of the labyrinth and how it appears to people. There can't only be a couple dozen people in the world who are truly lost, so I wonder how much finding it relies on Hermes appearance. I say this because we see P and Storm end up finding the hotel without ever bumping into Hermes, yet P's grandfather clearly ran into Hermes before finding it. Yet as the achievement so aptly puts it, we've rewritten the story of Io and Argos, as well as coated Storm in a scent that Asterion would find familiar and meaningful. (As well as Poseidon.) How much of what happens in Chapter 18, including Hermes vanishing and his reaction to P and Storm, is because of their actions in the Hinterlands? There's so many connections and convergences to explore.

ETA: Thinking about the Argos and Io achievement is making me appreciate just how queer this story is. It doesn't just feature gay characters in what would normally be straight roles, it's about found family, making the best of your situation, and ultimately breaking tradition and what's been placed on you to find what you decide is happiness. I think that's half of why this story resonates so much with me. It's not just giving me something I can't find most places, it's commenting on it and using traditional myths and stories to create our own. 

Ok, I said I was going to do it and I did. So here's the entire beach day ritual, as clearly as I can identify all the elements. Some of these might just be incidental, but if I could think of a way to interpret something as part of or an enhancement of the rite, I included it.

COMMEMORATIVE HOLIDAY: In celebration of Oscar's first paycheck

JOURNEY: Setting out to the seashore

SETTING INTENTION: "I'll bet... that by tomorrow mornin', at least somethin'll be cleared up, and you'll have a nice job offer" and as has been implied, in future builds, P will be hirable as hotel staff. Unclear if Storm meant this as encouragement, or if he actually intended this to be an Intention Setting, but the effects of the rite do bring exactly this about.

TO LIMINAL SPACE: the seashore, which is about the most liminal space there is.

BATHING: in the sea.

PURIFICATION WITH SALT: because the bathing is done in the sea.

USING THE MATERIALS AT HAND: the seashells. Note the bought one is rejected. Which makes the money spent on it wasted, and therefore a-

SACRIFICE/ALMS: the money wasted on the conch shell when Storm immediately finds a better one.

SHARED MEAL: the dumplings and fish and chips. It's not bread and wine, but there's no other narrative reason to mention the food and Asterion's more than once made a big deal of the ritual aspect of eating together.

MAKING A FIRE

IN AN ABANDONED LOT: another layer of liminal space, and the same kind P used to make his charm.

AT DUSK

TRADING LIFE STORIES: P volunteers an account of how he can't stop seeing the hotel, the very thing he's been avoiding telling Storm, unprompted once the fire is going. Note providence and/or synchronicity carries the steps forward once the ritual has some momentum, and Storm doesn't have to do this step.

It's at this point Oscar explains what he's been doing. P doesn't catch on till he's told.

THE ACTUAL RITUAL: salt, fire, amulet, and a spiral to be broken. note the amulet used was both an heirloom-a bead from the charm P's grandfather made him-and purpose built-among other beads Storm added. Storm mentions this as another symbol of broken recursion. Also reflects, unknown to Storm, the armlet MC summons for Asterion to test the hotel's fabrication powers. Synchronicity again, but also dipping into another narrative's power. Storm is playing YOUR role of "releaser from the bondage of recursions"

PERFORMED ON BEHALF OF ANOTHER: explicitly in the text

TRADING LIFE STORIES: then Oscar responds with the story in whose recursion P is trapped.

GUESSING P'S TRUE NAME: and that one carries some REAL hefty folkloric weight.

INVOKING HIS ROLE WITHIN THE NARRATIVE TO CLAIM AND CONTROL IT: "I'm Io, and yer the Panoptes." which arguably has even more weight. Note the implicit queer implications in claiming a role meant for a different gender, which in some traditions is also an enhancement of ritual work.

So, it's maybe not surprising that this is what worked to break through P's debts and reveal the hotel. About the only things that could have been done which wasn't was if the ritual had also been at a crossroads, and the Marian invocation that this thread was supposed to be about. (I guess a future update could always reveal the beach is named Salve Regina or something like that.)

I guess one could say there's a 'true love' element that could have been included too... but I'm willing to bet that future updates will reveal that yeah, that's there, retroactively, if you as the player steer correctly once Storm and P arrive at the hotel.

I want to write a longer and more personal reply, but it'll take a minute, so before that I'll just say I appreciate this post and you being open about influences and your thoughts on them, Minoh. Like I mentioned in another post, I really appreciate how much things happening also double as a commentary instead of purely plot. There's a maturity to this story, and to be honest I'm thrilled there's a SFW version as that means I'll be able to share it with others who may initially be wary.

I mentioned previously that I descended from one of the families the King of Spain sent to California/Mexico. My ancestors settled and built one of the more famous cities that isn't LA. Unfortunately, it's built for tourists with wealth so there's almost no middle class and what exists are from people finding a way in 60+ years ago. I am never going to own a house unless family dies, and even then with step-siblings, that's iffy. My mother has tried to comfort me by saying that she has a good life insurance policy, so she knows I'll be okay. That's such a sick thought to find comfort in. That to have some semblance of financial security, it has to come at the cost of her not being there to see it. I don't even have the best relationship with her or any of my family, but I hate that this is the world we live in.

To be honest, I don't have a higher education, either. Once my parents found out they'd have to cosign a loan they backed out and I couldn't afford school. I ended up "lucking out" and finding a job that I should have needed a degree for, but already had the skills. The pay was clear why it didnt require a degree, no one with one would take it, but I got a job that sounded prestigious. Eventually, I met a guy and we moved in together. He had a degree and could have been making significantly more if he was in the right area, but had self-confidence issues. I helped him work through that and we came up with a plan where we could move somewhere with a good-paying job and I could go to school with the extra income. He said if we got married we'd have even more to work with.

We discussed places to look, one where we both knew people so I could maybe get part-time work, but he ended up applying to a city where I knew no one. He got a job that started at $130k a year, something that was and still is incomprehensible to me. I wasn't thrilled about the area, because I knew what would happen, but I couldn't say no. Essentially, when we got there and he realized his coworkers were making as much or more than me, he suddenly didn't want to get married anymore. I didn't have a job and was having a hard time finding one as it was mostly just tech people there and I didn't have the education for it. He never invited coworkers over and told me it was because he thought they'd be embarrassed by me. We eventually broke up, but I tried changing everything about myself in order to stay because I knew that I couldn't go to school otherwise, and failing that there was financial stability with him. I started having massive anxiety attacks when he was away and not having lived in a city, I couldn't get used to how crowded and claustrophobic it was. Unsurprisingly, it broke down and I've never felt less human. I ended up moving back in with my parents for the first time since I was 19, convinced I was worthless.

So even though the experiences are vastly different, I empathize with Oscar quite a bit. Likewise, I empathize with Pedro, too. I was let go from that job I had for almost 7 years because by staying there too long I was becoming too expensive, despite currently making less than what I eventually made just doing retail after breaking up with the guy I was going to marry. 

On top of that, I have one strength and it's one I find more of a burden than anything, and that's empathy. I am very good at peeling away at a person and finding what they're afraid to show others, only to accept them unconditionally. I can mold myself to almost anyone, but it leads me open to both manipulate and be manipulated. This was much more of an issue as a teenager, but there's sometimes still this fear that any action you're taking is either doing something solely for your own gain or making someone do something because of how you've treated them and not because it's what they actually want. And even if you know they want to follow you, there's a fear of dependency when you know your battles with mental health. You can love someone, but are you going to be the someone they love when they need it?

So I understand both of them, and somewhere between the two I find myself. That's not something I find often. Usually when I do it's almost solely a negative portrayal, but there is so much love and thought put into the them that I don't think I can properly convey how much it's meant to me. No character in this story is perfect, but they're all what Asterion is afraid to recognize in himself as human. I like how they're all aware of their shortcomings and how that awareness can sometimes lead to further issues because of that fear. It's why centering this story around trust makes it stand out, as sometimes trusting yourself or others is the hardest thing in the world to do.