#I LOVE YOU PARALLELS I LOVE YOU ACCIDENTAL FOILS ILY ILY ILY

[luxraydyne]

This was almost certainly totally accidental on the writers’ parts, but I’m remembering that the Pewter interrogation in right path is the only time he speaks honestly about Renju, and it happens right as he is pulled out of the locker he was hiding in. Like. You know. A closet. Yes, technically speaking, Date already kinda knows arriving there, because of the conversation with Mama (who was planning a much more controlled and civil confrontation, by her account). But still, within moments of being forcibly yanked out of the distinctly-closet-shaped-furniture-item he’s squished himself into, Pewter and Renju’s relationship is outed at literal gunpoint.

(I think it might also be the same locker that the BL novels are found in, which just rings more bells under my queer literature theory tin foil ✨ symbolism ✨ hat. But I might need correcting on that detail, I’m not sure)

It’s just so unfair.

God, and the parallels between Datomi and Jupewter make this even more gut-wrenching. Both Hitomi and Renju are lonely souls tortured by their past constantly running from threats to their lives, whilst struggling to love their children in the best way they can. Both find an unexpected kindred spirit to share a portion of their lives, the good and bad, and with whom they can become truer versions of themselves. Both are torn from their lovers by the same atrocity that destroyed their lives when they were still kids, a tragedy that was not their fault.

But their stories end so differently. On the one hand, Date and Hitomi are reunited, reconciled; Date’s even back in Yagyu’s original body, signalling the repair of their situation, a return to something once lost. Hitomi sees her vengeance and her daughter’s life is saved. On the other hand, Renju’s gone. For good. And weirdly (this is a strange Resolution End thing), no one seems to really care that much. Pewter doesn’t even get the closure of seeing Renju's dead body lying under his faulty machine before he is arrested and watches Date - a serial murderer - walk free. The difference is that Date and Hitomi had help. Their past relationship can be made known - it’s an implicit objective of the plot to recover it - and they have allies as a result. Pewter and Renju’s relationship is seen as an impediment. Pewter’s efforts to save the man he loves are framed as meddling in The Plan, and he becomes an active obstacle in Date’s way (a complete 180 from Annihilation End, where Pewter is pretty much the only ally Date has left, save for Aiba obvs). The identity of Renju’s lover is not an important memory to be salvaged, so much as it is a secret hampering the investigation. Renju’s lover is of course another man, hence his silence. Where Hitomi and Date’s relationship can be saved, their parallels are doomed every which way, precisely because they are closeted men. And like, it’s not Hitomi and Date’s fault or anything. They just so happen to benefit from their circumstances in a way that is inaccessible to Pewter and Renju. It’s just unfair. 

And the way Pewter is literally on his knees the whole time hurts my heart. (I may have done a tiny little whoop when Date got zapped, sorry Date ily I swear)

#oh what the heck i'll tag it properly #aitsf #ai the somnium files #ai: the somnium files #pewter (aitsf) #luxraydyne's pewter saga #again i wouldn't read too much into this (unlike me) i'm not convinced the game would plan this level of detail for one dialogue scene #nobody's giving me a phd in uchikoshi any time soon but it just made my chest ache when i remembered the scene for the thousandth time #so now i'm subjecting this nice cosy empty text box to my delirious ranting #long post #aitsf spoilers #jupewter