itch.io

The textbox/UI overlay is so cool.

And I do like when stories can commit to certain scary irreversible changes... I was shocked ngl. poor Jester.

Ahh I see, that's good to have clarified, I was wondering if it was just an issue on my browser's end ^^''  I'm not much of a public poster myself nowadays but I have tumblr and bsky for lurking around. Handle is the same one as on here if you remove the U.

And that's great to hear too, I am sure you can do it :3 I've never participated in a jam myself but maybe someday a certain theme can coincide with a pre-existing idea that I haven't used for anything... the time limit seems like it can be either stressful or motivational I guess.

And yepp I get that, with things that are so personal and nuanced you really hope to get it right or to be able to guarantee some of an ideal recognition/response to that effort even if one can't fully control it. She was definitely a fun character so I look forward to revisiting it all in that reread sometime.

Ohh I see! It definitely doesn't devalue it, don't worry, and it is interesting to hear this kind of Behind the Scenes reasoning for it...  It's nice that they could make their debut here and indeed perhaps will make a return somewhere ohoho

As for Lucia, that's a fair worry to have too. I do think sometimes discussions about mental health that I've seen online can get too prescriptive in how every effort must aspire towards normalcy/respectable functioning in society whether it's achievable or not, and that leads to the exploration of more complicated feelings being discouraged as irresponsible  or unproductive to be frank about. So I do appreciate how Lucia is written and the reader is invited to just immerse themselves in her worldview and thoughts for a while. Like, behaving in ways that seem strange or experiencing such intense emotions or inarticulable moments of Unreality can all coexist with still being a person who deserves to have their autonomy and perspective respected, even if  a lot of media doesn't approach those depictions with the most grace nodnod. Reminds me of all the responses to the options in that "SAY SOMETHING YOU ASSHOLE" scene. And somewhat of the Mariage Sorciere and their problems a bit again. Ooh and if you do return to these ideas I'll be curious to see for sure

Also dw, I don't mind hearing your own feelings on it at all. I don't think it's saying too much or that it innately taints a reader's perception to know more about the authorial intents/what things you were invested in while creating it. In fact it can enrich the experience? without letting go of what I took from it either, I can still always hold these multiple different save files of my perception/experience in mind. It's an interesting work of art that any reader could rebuild into their mind into something else as they experience it, but also still something someone actually made with her own relations to it in mind... so in that sense it definitely feels valuable to be able to engage with you directly here. 

And you're welcome!! I remember originally worrying my comment was a bit too obtrusive/randomly sentimental to drop there but it was indeed in considering the themes of the VN itself that made me think, no no this certainly isn't the kind of place I'd receive judgement on that for lol, so I'm very glad that sharing it could be of some help to you as well. 

And yeah WIPs can be so difficult to  get going u_u I hope you have a fun and enriching time however you approach it!

Also on a different note, I was wondering if the URL to your twitter/X changed at some point..?  Clicking the link on your page says it isn't with an existing account. Or if you just got rid of it that's fair too lol, I'm not on there myself at the moment acc

omg I hadn't logged in here for a while but it's a lovely coincidence to see this reply on the same day as I did :0 

Yayy I'm very glad that comment could aid in your own re-assessment of this work. I'll definitely look forward to whatever you have planned next!

As for the epilogue ooh, I remember trying to figure out what it could all mean myself at the time too, I should definitely give it a reread sometime and get back to you with more detailed thoughts!

But from what I can remember, it Was interesting to see Lucia bouncing off these different characters, and those curious little visitors appearing after her epic explosion of power,  wanting to help to guide her in some way, I wonder how I should take it all... whether they are also constructs born from herself on some level, like a witch's furniture? 

(Also maybe I should reread the part in the main story where we get the excerpt from Lucia's own VN writing and her OCs, I feel like I remembered something from that being repeated/recontextualised in the epilogue here but perhaps I'm misremembering)

holy peak 

- Akiha Anon of Emails fame who has finally started reading through the many toxic yuri jam games I've had saved. This one blew me away between the awesome animation/literally cinematic compositions on-screen (the sense of scale conveyed in some of those background images & scrolling segments... I have to learn how to do that now) and the quite raw and touching writing, I'm genuinely surprised to hear that neither of you are plural according to that latest podcast episode 

That sense that it'll be okay, it's fortunate because you're not as utterly Alone as some ppl might be, even if you can feel alienated from others, because there are so many of You in this body/consciousness together, but that doesn't stop all the same sorrows, abuses and neglect from being replicated Inside again.

I appreciate the little jab at pop psychology definitions too lol, not everyone's experience will reflect such strict roles and causes indeed, nor should it Have to for social/institutional validation. Fitting parallel/crossover with trans experiences too there; in both cases I think there is a draw for ppl to pathologise themselves for outside approval, pragmatic as it may be, so the Understudy's exasperation there is so real in many ways.

The wrath towards the world that enforces conformity with such violence + the Love for those living in their interesting ways in spite of it, both come through quite strongly... I would've been totally happy with it ending on the intense point that it did before the credits, but still having the epilogue be there as it was is rather sweet too.

Also wow truly revolutionising the yuri ntr landscape

Hello. This might be pretty long, apologies in advance ^^''... And quite a late comment too, but better late than never!

I read this VN around April 2025 while looking through various Menhera Jam entries. I think that of the several I read, this one was my favourite. Perhaps it is for the reasons that a previous commenter describes, that it manages to capture certain mindsets and experiences in such a raw way that feels quite refreshing. 

Lucia is both a charming and compelling character. Something about her daily life seen through the narrator, the ethical questions she challenges you with that betray some of her deeply held principles despite her eccentricity, and that reality of illness and dependency upon others without it being treated as a degrading way to live in any way, was really touching to me.

 I remember that when I got to a certain climactic scene where that really cool CG appears, it actually made me cry.  I can only offer my own interpretation as a single reader ofc, but the way it seemed like she was seeking so desperately to be Engaged with, as if she was had written this world (much like another famous VN witch) for that purpose, but as a character trapped on the other side of the screen,  just never could feel the truest confirmation that that acknowledgement was happening.

Of course this was all a game written in advance, but I happened to come across it at a point in my life where I was being faced with those questions; I was learning from the first time from people very dear to me that I could actually be quite an emotionally avoidant person, and how that could hurt them. That just listening without opening up your heart in return is not actually the virtue that it seems... So when, after trying to connect to another in many ways, even sharing her WIP VN writing lol, she turns directly to the player and says that actually, I think the caged bird is You, you're the one who won't sing for me, it was frighteningly Relevant. o_o 

And then the ending, just gosh... The epilogue switching more to her own PoV was quite interesting too. 

After I finished reading I wanted to make sure that this VN was on Vndb as well. added it myself though probably others have helped to improve upon my entry since then since my own understanding of the systems there are a bit limited.. 

And furthermore... By the time I had finished playing it, there were several points in the text and Imagery that stuck out to me and made me wonder based on vague osmosis, "Hm, is this a Dies Irae thing?" I had vaguely heard of that VN before but never was inclined to read it as the obviously fraught subject matters made me a bit wary, but ultimately I decided I might as well try it, simply hoping that I could glean a little more of what Purple Prose, this VN that had unexpectedly touched me so, wanted to communicate. 

So entered it with mostly low expectations, though taking meticulous notes, and by late August I came out of it with one of my favourite works of fiction. o_o I still don't entirely know how much I was intended to read back into PPfPP through this, but it resonated all the same. The surprisingly head-on exploration of irrational passions and fixations, the overattachment to pretence and "delusion" and narratives, and what it even is to be Chuunibyou, and how so so many characters and themes came back to that notion of seeking connection from others, wanting to make yourself understood, no matter how destructively, or whether to flee from that engagement entirely. Mercury is the planet of thieves and travellers... 

There are also things I was dissatisfied by in DI, maybe if the writers were more leftist than just Liberals they could be less utterly unserious about a few things ? lol but I would want to take up the remaining space here with neither that nor my countless further thoughts...  

Regardless, a lot of what I had found in both of these novels resonated surprisingly deeply and has led me to both do a lot of personal reflection and make some interesting discoveries.

I suppose what I hope to emphasise here, with this overly long comment from a total stranger,  is that I think the domino effects from finding and reading this fascinating work of yours genuinely have changed my life a lot and I wanted to express my gratitude for that.🙏  I believe that the witch was a true witch and her display of magic quite excellent. 

Ooh this was so  intriguing... The art style and colour palettes add so much to the atmosphere and the themes of longing and vulnerability were handled quite interestingly.

 I played through multiple times to see all the dialogue options...it really is the kind of game that can prompt deep self-reflection just from simple decisions. 

Speaking of which, I liked the creative presentation for those choice menus. Especially near the end when asked for a hug for the second time, the way the "yes" option is much smaller on the screen than the "no" and yet still available nonetheless,  to me it felt like an unwise desire that the narrator is trying to suppress.  

Also I loved the drink-making part, though my favourite character was probably that frantic person underneath the cage :') 

This was fun and I loved the art :3