Thread:Dr0Shadow/@comment-1988716-20141106110347/@comment-1988716-20141107201005

As I said, the actual details and ramifications won't be made clearer until later, but what the hell, I'll at least clarify some things in that post.

The Last Gift (no name given just yet), I'm basing more on the idea of Pandora's Box. Because I actually liked the name Pandoraen Jar. It's the age-old story (even if my portrayal is heavily influenced by Finnegans Wake): You open the box, and you cannot put what it releases back inside ever again. The Fall of mens (and womens!-- "mens" is Latin for mind, fall of the mind), which cannot be undone. All based on a temptation (open the box, open your birthday present early)-- but a temptation done under pressure (open the box because you feel you will die otherwise, understandable). Whether the pressure was true or not, Jordan still opened the box.

Ten Speed, and in fact the entire world he found himself in, has nothing to do with the box. The world was gonna happen whether he opened it or not. In fact, it's arguable if he even really opened the box or not, but that's inconsequential: The post, and indeed this entire arc, deals with consequences far greater than mere reality.

So, for utter clarification, a brief outline of the post you read:

- Jordan and the Tour Guide are on the spaceship as provided by Grimaldi in attempt to find Sampo and find Grimaldi's other half, they've just inexplicably seen The Beast on their ship, Tour Guide's gone to sleep, Jordan is alone with his thoughts, Jordan is bored.

- The Fears (or was it just Grimaldi?) left our heroes with a black box, Jordan is not to open it until his "birthday."

- Jordan realizes the ship's flying directly into a sun. Tries to wake the Tour Guide, she's abnormally unwakeable. So Jordan opens the box.

- Now he finds himself somewhere completely different, but the transition is more jaded, more faded. He was panicking, then he was scribbling, now he's exploring. What really happened there?

- Jordan enters a pyramid, hears woman singing. He has not found this woman yet. Voice sings of fall of art, fall of passion, fall of emotion at the wake of words. Voice sings arbitrariness. Jordan reacts.

- In the Queen's Chamber of this pyramid, Jordan finds Ten Speed in the form of Fentzy. Ten Speed, however, is not acting the way he normally does-- he's not speaking straight, he's a lot more cryptic.

- All reality seems to freeze, with Jordan able to see it's all 2D when you look at it right. Someone (Jordan? Jordan at the moment or Jordan later? Or someone else?) adds, in parentheses, a passage to the readers that's thematically relevant but still just the tip of the iceberg.

The entire post is just the tip of the iceberg, a prelude (overture?) to the true ramifications of this arc. Rapture's going places, and The Last Gift fits right in. It won't be exactly how you want the Fear to be, but then again this is Rapture, I take liberties with Fears anyway. And it won't make sense just yet. If I had my way, it never would, but I know I'm not good enough of a writer to pull that off yet, so I will have some clarity in the story at some point. ..probably.