Welp, since another Infinikey weekend has passed, I finally did the thing. I started and completed the in-progress books for Lucio's route, the brat.

I had to rename the Apprentice and change their pronouns to even get through it, and I think the only positive impression I got was that there exists some space in Lucio's heart that if he were smitten with someone, he would want to spoil them endlessly, and I suppose that has to count for something from someone as self-centered as him LOL. His route is supposed to be redemption arc, I get it. I think I'm just not morosexual enough to like Lucio lmao.

Now being able to compare Muriel's, Portia's and Lucio's routes though, hot dang did they really put far more care into crafting alternate stories for each character. I'm most curious about how the books will end for Muriel and Portia.

As far as Muriel's route goes, I was uncomfortable with most of it because of how uncomfortable Muriel was for a good half of the story, and the dialogue options seemed to swing from either being wordlessly patient (as if you were trying to coax a wild animal) or kind of over familiar goofy/teasing, which I wasn't a fan of for the start of the route. I think later on you get some sarcastic options and he'll actually laugh at those, which did feel more like victory in progression to getting closer, as well as getting through some of the darker chapters towards the end. Maybe the bonding through shared trauma did it for me by the end of released chapters?

You actually go and travel outside of Vesuvia for one, which makes it feel like more time has progressed and more specific time between Apprentice and Muriel to interact whereas I feel like with the Masquerade happening within 3 days in the Asra/Nadia/Julian stories makes it feel far more rushed romantically (I guess there's time shenanigans with the magic realm... eehhh?). And it feels like the stakes are higher since at one point the Prakran army is involved instead of it just being Nadia's sisters helping bc they were already there.

In my head, AsraxApprentice has such a strong foundation to make sense in the story, considering that Asra's curse mark/sacrifice is directly related to the Apprentice and everyone else is just kind of like Fuck Off, Lucio. Still, Muriel's storyline I think had the best character relationship build up, might be my favorite route so far.

I wasn't sure what I was expecting for Portia's route, but I kinda feel she also fell victim to the random Chaotic Horniness that I felt was happening in Asra and Julian's route. I know I said earlier that Asra makes the most sense to me as a love interest, but the one gripe I have is that only playing through all the essentially non-paid options makes his progression seem jarring. Beyond that though, I think it was an interesting contrast to the main three's obviously negative paths. With Asra, you have choice to support or deny how he tends to want to run away and isolate when things get tough. Nadia was highly distrustful of her family and would not accept help from them, and Julian was recklessly self-sacrificing.

With Portia, it seemed to be tempering her optimism and confidence? I wouldn't say she was overconfident like Lucio, but from the get-go it was putting Julian on a pedestal (he can't be a murderer, and if he did we'll still get him out of trouble!) and getting that recognition from her aunt that blinded her from how fishy things were. It hurt me thinking about how you would have to let someone down to some hard truths when they're so idealistic and genuine. I think the way the Courtiers are set up as the suspicious villains was more interesting in this route, and in Lucio's route. Portia's whole storyline seems a lot more like a mystery/adventure which suits her, I'm just not sure about romancing options--maybe it'd be different if I had the coins to see some of the paid options.

I honestly feel a bit bad for Asra/Nadia/Julian's routes main stories feeling comparatively weaker now since it's obvious they were written first, or maybe they didn't want as much variation to the main canon story?

IDK, I've managed to not only get into a niche fandom, but I got into it late so now I'm not sure how far my pursuit of looking for fan content will go.

Back when Miraculous Ladybug came out there was still a big gap between seasons and the fandom content was flowing. I feel like I saw a lot more arguing and bitterness as that series went on though, and since it got licensing on Netflix, I would binge the half-season update and then... I just kind of stopped interacting with the fandom. I honestly haven't felt a draw to getting back into it, and that was probably the last major fandom I participated in before distancing myself more in social media in general.

I'm not really sure I consider myself part of the Arcana "fandom" in that sense because I got quickly into it, but it feels like it will end pretty soon and I'm not sure I'm so invested to look into fics or the like. I've never been a particular fan of characterxreader type fics, nor really getting super invested in other people's OC's, but there's something about the stories that scratches an itch I have for playing with all the what-ifs with certain characters in their established worlds.