#furry visual novel book club

[visualnovelzombie]

Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 15 SPOILERS

Hi everyone, here is the SPOILER discussion post for “Echo - TJ’s Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday”

Links: Previous - Next - Original - Spoiler Free Version

Feel free to respond in reblogs/replies/or asks :D

We begin from the route split by following after Tj, who ran off after Flynn’s tirade. The music cuts and we’re left with the sound of the river. We’re met with three options.

The first two will set Chase’s mood for the next bit of dialogue while the third will lock us out of Tj’s route, which is something we haven’t seen before. 

>Leave him be…

Chase narrates that he’s “not exactly graceful with this sort of thing, especially with TJ.”, and then decides to go with the others, giving us the options for the other route choices but not TJ’s.

>Say Something…”

Chase tries to comfort the lynx, but Tj doesn’t respond.

Until Finally…

>Say Nothing…

Chase sits next to Tj and starts breaking twigs in half, eventually annoying Tj. 

Chase asks TJ if he wants to go eat, and he responds with a firm ‘No.’ Until Finally…

>Reconvergence

Tj is upset Flynn was so mean in front of everyone. Chase comments that Tj is clearly frazzled because the lynx has allowed his fur to stay unkempt even after sitting by himself for a while. Chase comments that Tj’s inability to express himself fully is part of what’s dragging the Lynx down so much. The two continue to discuss Flynn’s tirade

I would like to note, this is 71 lines into the route, and the foreshadowing is already on thick lmao

Chase speculates that Flynn is after ‘more than the truth’, and we learn Tj saw Sydney drown. Tj becomes angry at Flynn, because the gila hadn’t realized how much the event affected Tj himself. Tj wishes he could go back to the day, and that he isn’t mad he didn’t save Sydney, he knows he couldn’t have… hinting at wanting something else. Chase glosses over that he could have probably saved Sydney from drowning if he was there.

Chase wants to help Tj with what happened, but says he needs to come to terms with it himself first. We’re treated to a brief flashback of the scene… Flynn drags Chase into the water, and forces the otter to get Sydney while Jenna and Leo try to help where they can.

This is one of the few times that Chase acknowledges, at least in some part, that he had SOMETHING to do with it. Which is an extremely rare case in of itself, but especially on this route. Even late on the same day, we see him act angry and unusual, already over protective of Tj. He doesn’t interact this way on other routes, and to me, reads as the Otter ALREADY being pestered by the entity the fandom has dubbed, ‘Mirror-Man’.

Tj expresses being upset again, which makes Chase angry at Flynn for hurting Tj so much. Come Over begins to play, as Chase reminds Tj about their planned hike. The two plan their hike and talk about what their plans for school, promising to meet up one more time before graduating. The two return to the group who have packed everything in the van already. Leo asks if Tj is fine and after a satisfactory answer, is done with the conversation and heads off to work after dropping everyone else off at the motel.

This is part of my Mirror-Man USUALLY attacks Leo theory but is on/after Chase this time, but Leo’s complete lack of interest or pestering for more information stands out to me greatly here. After talking it out with some people, if it isn’t ‘Mirror-Man’ himself that also goes after Leo other times there’s two ‘alternatives’ that I can see work.

1. The entities in general work through mirrors. Like how they all ‘slither’ along the ground.

2. Chase, now already fixated on Tj, is purposely ignoring Leo/not narrating what’s happening exactly. We know from later that Chase’s narration becomes EXTREMELY unstable/unreliable, and I will admit that maybe some of Leo’s aloofness on this route might come from that, instead of another supernatural dealing.

The remaining four spend a lazy afternoon together before coming back to discussing Flynn. Carl tries to defend the lizard but Tj hard pivots the conversation to ice cream. When asked what his favorite flavor is, Chase’s head buzzes and he’s unable to think of an answer, blurting out Vanilla after a few moments. Chase’s headache gets worse and he’s unable to continue the conversation, and closes his eyes.. Very particular things happen over the next few lines:

Chase wakes on the couch, after some time has passed, indicated by the fade in, to the room being dark, Tj and Jenna in bed, with Carl on the floor asleep.

The scene fades to black, indicating some more time has passed. Chase is in bed next to Tj and is staring at the door.

We’re then met with a dream sequence… Before going into it I would like to point out the two previous scenes both took places at different times, indicated by the fadeouts, and that they were (most likely) NOT dreams. They don’t have the track associated with dreams playing in them, and Chase doesn’t ‘wake up’ from them into this one, like we’ve seen on Carl’s and Leo’s routes. Just bits of time are hard cut by the writing.

--

I want to talk about this for a bit. We’ve seen Chase dip on Sunday night from the motel room to go do... something that’s never explained. Something odd from how it cuts, and the way this sequence is cut, calls into question how much is really going on. I think the first instinct is to accept he’s just going on a walk the previous night, and this night is just his head hurting. BUT, the way this section glosses over large chunks of the day in just a few lines, reads to me that everything is being directly narrated, IS important.

The important bits I get out of this are: Chase takes pictures of someone, or something. (I don’t remember if they come up later in this route or not!), and/or heads for the night. This is to vague to work with right now, but just more lost time at night with our narrator.

With the second being the time cut to lying in bed. Two things stand out to me:

1. Chase is lying NEXT to TJ. Every other time he’s described lying platonicaly with someone, it’s head-to-toe. That’s how he sleeps in the bed with TJ and with Carl normally. 

2. Chase is starring at a door. There are three doors in the room, and we know two are very important. The closet door is where a fox hung himself, but we don’t learn that till Arches. The other door important to the room, is the door to the bathroom. Later on in the route, Chase (and Sam!) are both terrified of what’s in there, the ‘Mirror-Man.’ I’m perposing, at this time, whichever one of them is in control during the night, is sensing that entity or presence already from the bathroom. I’d LOVE to hear other interpretations of this scene though!

--

 Tj is drinking alcohol by the lake. He starts to run away after hearing something, but is eventually pulled back into the lake by a chain. Chase tries to help… but is also chained to the lake.

Chase and Tj are on their hike, with Tj trying to comfort the boiling otter.

...Tj you can’t just say that to Chase, gawd!

After a terrible and awkward attempt at playful flirting, the two continue on their hike. Chase calls into question his understanding of Tj’s sexuality, realizing the two have never discussed it, and how it might intersect with the lynx’s vague faith. We then this is INSANE lore tidbit.

Two hours pass by as the scene cuts, while Old Winds begins to play. Chase, struggling with the intensity of the hike, trips and falls. Tj soaks Chase with another water bottle, much to the otters continued annoyance. Tj is concerned for Chase because HE asked the otter out on the trip. After a bit of rest and… determination on where they should eat, the two continue to the peak of the trail. Tj soaks his shirt with water, showing off his fit form. Chase is … attracted to the sight.

The two make it the peak, resting on a stone bench at the top. Chase enjoys being alone with Tj like this… until a tarantula jumps in his lap.

Tj had pranked Chase with a plastic spider after Jenna insisted upon it. One microaggression later, the two enjoy a nice lunch and we’re treated with a CG

Chase takes off his shirt and the two accidentally touch paws while reaching for a bag of chips, sending Tj squirming off embarrassed. The two make awkward small talk while Tj fixes his fur. The two reminiscent on how they met, with Chase being a bit of bully in the story.

Chase heads off on his own for a second to get shots for his project. Drone begins to play, as some THING narrates FOR Chase inside his head… distinct from Samuel, based off of its font. 

Chase either ignores or pays no attention to the entity and takes the shots he needs. Tj finds Chase taking the shots and comments on the otter’s body, making Chase question Tj more. Tj peers over the edge and we’re met with a Choice…

>Shove him.

The voice narrates Tj’s corpse lying at the bottom of the Canyon… and we’re given the other two options to choose from.

Notable because Chase almost never, if ever, questions Sam outside of the Murder Pit where Sam is the most separate.

We’re given the option to only Grab him and do nothing…

>Grab him.

Chase scares Tj and the two end up flailing around away from the cliff, locked in each other’s arms for a few moments.

>Do nothing

Chase doesn’t want to actually scare him off they cliff so the two stand there for a few moments.

>Reconvergence:

The two try to yell into the canyon, trying to get it to ‘echo’ back to them. The sad and nostalgic track, Canyon, begins to play.

The two comment on the quality of Echoes in Echo. Chase laments the town, while Tj wishes everyone could have come today. The two share an intimate moment for a second, until Tj gets a text message. It sours the Lynx’s mood, but he lies to Chase about it, the music cutting once the lie starts. The two head back home.

...

The two plan the rest of the trip, and tell Jenna to meet them at the diner for dinner. Upon arriving, Jenna remarks on Chase’s… ottery smell. Janice comes to take the groups order, happy to see the trio after they graduated. She also remarks on the mudslide musk in the area, blaming it on another patron. The coyote talks about needing to do some housework in a relatively polite conversation, resulting in Tj volunteering him and Chase for the job. After Jenna and Chase chide Tj for agreeing to the work, Jenna makes another musk comment towards Chase. The otter storms off to the bathroom to clean up in a fit of rage.

Chase tries to alleviate his headache by washing his face in the mirror… but it suddenly continues to worsen.

Chase sees a twisted reflection of himself in the mirror and becomes extremely disoriented. The non-diegetic music and sound effects is described IN text from Chase’s narration, quickly becoming diegetic. Chase writes the episode off as a migraine. Chase cleans up the musk under his armpits, then drops his pants to clean under his tail….

Chase returns to the table embarrassed, passing TJ on the way. Chase makes conversation with Jenna, and learns about Carl’s party tomorrow. Jenna lets slip the Tj wanted to see Chase the most during their trip back home. Jenna shows Chase a stick figure recreation of the prank that TJ had drawn, before heading out back to the motel to grab her purse. Tj returns to the booth.

Chase tries to explain the situation and Tj says its fine… even saying it was kind of cute.Come Over starts to play. Chase ribs Tj, playing gay chicken with the lynx… thrilled to be doing it with a guy again, let alone Tj. Their eyes meet again, and Tj smiles.

Another dream sequence…

Leo is driving Chase’s car on top of the lake, ‘shooting’ Chase with a finger gun from across the water. Tj swims after the car…

The dream sequence CUTS, with NO fade or dissolve, something very peculiar for the novel. Something intentional (IMO). A new track, ‘Unease’ plays, distinct from other Dream Sequence tracks or events. The background is Echo Canyon, now black and white, labeled ‘canyoneg’. Tj is lying at the floor of the canyon, maggots eating him. A paw reaches towards the lynx… 

The dream fades back to the lake, unease still plays. Six bodies float in the water.

Chase knows something isn’t right. A tool-shed sits on the edge of the lake, one that doesn’t exist. It opens, and the scene cuts…

--

Okay, a LOT happens with this one. We get our usual dream sequence intro, with everyone doing weird shit on the lake as usual. BUT, this dream is interrupted. By a different force than usual, something showing Chase new kinds of nightmares. The lack of fadein is EXTREMELY noticible, especially when 99% of transitions has them. Some new entity has hijacked the dream. Something connected to the maggots from earlier... the ‘thing’ that is narrating FOR Chase. Something that isn’t Sam. The ominious paw is concerning and something we’re not super familiar with. It’s to vague to speculate on, even with TSR ghosts (as an addage not a planned explanation)

Six bodies, for six fiends (Carl, Leo, Tj, Flynn, Jenna, Sydney) on the lake. As if the entity is telling Chase that he SHOULD kill his friends. This is how ~I~ read it, but we know there’s been many other drownings related to the lake, but the number lines up to noticeably for me. There’s also the case of the shed... WHAT does that mean? The only other shed we get mention of that I can remember is Chase’s grandfather’s shed (which WAS a peculiar mention), or somehow foreshadowing Janice’s eroded shed for the next day? It seems to specific for that. There’s also a shed in the LATEST TSR build... but they aren’t thematically linked at all really so I don’t want to discuss it. VERY VERY specific, for something that I can’t substantiate at this time. Maybe some more bits out of the remaining routes that I forgot will help fill us in?

One last thing is the ‘This isn’t right, this isn’t me. what is this?’ To ME, this reads like something has taken control of Sam’s nightmare powers. Before this line, I would have just called it normal foreshadowing dreams, but the part of ‘this isn’t me’, makes it sound like it usually is a ‘me’. It was pointed out that Sam is always refereed to as ‘you’ usually, but why would Chase say ‘this isn’t me’ in this circumstance? If he was lucid dreaming, enough to say a line like this, it would have been ‘This isn’t normal?’. The rest of the lake based dreams are definitely ‘normal’ for the otter. But the lack of chains, introduction of maggots as a motif, and unknown presence appearing on the scene before cutting IS new. These are things I missed/forgot when I shotgunned this route AND Flynn’s route on the same day for sure... and raided till 2am right after, completely frying my already fried brain so...

Jenna and Chase discuss going to Carl’s as Tj showers. Tj finishes, and rushes to grab his shirt that he had forgotten, before running back into the bathroom embarrassed to finish dressing. En route to Carl’s house, the scene with Janice plays out the same…

We cut to Carl’s house, the ram unable to be found. Flynn is cursing as usual… but Chase asks him to stop. Leo boosts Jenna into the window again, and she unlocks the door for them. While Flynn searches for Carl, Chase and Tj discuss going to Janice’s later. Tj decides he wants to make sure she’s okay, and Chase agrees to go along. Chase recalls ditching Tj at Duke’s place while him and Carl got junk to build the ram’s tree-house. Chase comments on the bullying stemming from being two years older than Tj. Chase is sent to search outside while Tj is sent to search in the basement... definitely enough time to plant the the scavenger hunt...

Chase walks back inside after some reminiscing and…

Followed by Jenna walking by, indicating it wasn’t her orange tail walking down the stairs.

Presumably John? Showing that he isn’t always attached to Jenna? The children probably wouldn’t have a ‘fat’ tail... but that begs the question. Why is the tail orange? The only orange foxes important to the universe are the Byrnes (who would have maybe existed, at least in concept, by this point), but why would any of them be here. Is this a simple case of the writer going ‘oh fox tail, orange!’, forgetting the blonde/yellow complexion of the Begays?

--

In the basement, Chase walks into Flynn talking to Tj. Flynn apologies for sending something, presumably a text, to Tj yesterday. Flynn holds Tj by his shoulder, dropping his paw once he notices Chase step into the room. Flynn walks out of the room without a word, and Tj frantically grooms himself in front of a mirror. Chase tries to comfort Tj, but the lynx is to frazzled to talk about it. Chase offers to go out and walk with Tj around town to look for Carl, and the two head out.

The two talk about school, Tj going in depth about his schooling as an athletic trainer, and how he’s enjoying it and sports in general. Chase receives a text from Leo, stating they found Carl and that the party is cancelled because Carl isn’t feeling well. The two debate on going to Janice’s. Chase is worried she’s tripping on something while Tj argues she doesn't use drugs… Tj guilt trips Chase to going with cuteness and the two head over to Janice’s.

The two make it to Janice’s house. The coyote is completely nonchalant, as if not remembering the incident at all. She tasks the boys with removing a mass of weeds and moving firewood, promising refreshments and cookies for the two. Chase contemplates leaving, before Tj soaks himself with hose water and offers it to Chase. Chase soaks himself and the two get to work. Come Over starts to play.

Leo texts Chase asking where he’s at, and once Chase tells him, Leo doesn’t respond anymore. Chase takes off his shirt due to the heat and teases Tj with the ‘show’. The two make plans to go to the diner in the evening, but are interrupted by Tj spotting a tarantula in the weeds.

Janice comes outside due to the two boys screaming. She admires their twink bodies, causing Tj to become flustered. The two get back to work but are unable to find the tarantula again. After finishing, Tj offers some sports medicine advice to Chase, rubbing one of the otter’s tense muscles… after a promise for a full massage later, the two start on the pile of wood.

I’m not sure how to read Tj seeing a phantom tarantula. I’m assuming it signals that he went through some kind of flashback/dream sequence like Chase does in a bit upon seeing the spider. As it is most likely he’s already setup the Scavenger hunt earlier in the day, I don’t think this is Sydney a possessive Echo taking it’s roots in him. Maybe this is just the simpler explanation of Spiders representing guilt. Janice sure has a lot of guilt built up (rip Sam), and the spiders coalescing around her and the center of town makes sense. Chase AND Tj are both feeling really guilty to, maybe it’s just that simple explanation.

Chase comments on Tj faking the tarantula, saying how it’s stressed him out. As Tj returns from Janice’s house with a plate of cookies, Chase sprays him with a water hose. A new track, “Tj Theme’, starts to play. Chase is callous and carefree, eating the cookies and openly flirting with TJ… who is reserved and anxious as the upbeat tempo track continues to play in the background. The two continue working, Tj feeling worse and worse as the day continues. The track continues to play... The two continue their spider-infested laborin the gayest-twinkiest way ever, but make short work of the pile. Chase offers to go hiking tomorrow, trying to invite everyone.

Tj’s Theme being Chase completely overstepping any semblance of his feelings and being a creeper really fucking sets the mood for the theme of route......

The pair are about to plan it out, when on the last plank of wood, only for Chase to see a tarantula on the backside of it. The music finally cuts. Chase passes out and we’re met with a dream/flashback…

Sydney, a blue eyed otter, is talking to Chase. Both of them are young children. Sydney starts rough-house playing with Tj, the lynx losing on purpose to get out of it. Sydney starts to strangle Tj with the lynx;s shirt. Chase yells out ‘STOP’, before his view shifts to the present.

--

I will say. The absolute jaw-drop of Sydney being an otter, and HOW MUCH that calls into question him drowning completely missed me the first time through...

--

Chase wakes up from him passing out, puking up the snacks. Tj pulls Chase inside to cool off, where the Lynx agrees to more manual labor.

The two walk back towards the diner, arguing on the way. Upon arriving at the diner, an old friend takes their order. Julian, a white deer, catches up with the two. Chase stays out of the conversation, glad when Julian eventually leaves. Tj is upset that Chase called him Toby after waking up from the dream sequence, but doesn’t press the issue. Bittersweet starts to play as Chase realizes how he’s made TJ uncomfortable.

FURSONA

Chase asks Tj if he wants to try and find closure about Sydney. He wants to go to the lake with everyone except Flynn and talk about it. Chase confirms that Tj didn’t see the tarantula that caused him to pass out…

We’re met with another dream/flashback where Chase bullies Sydney for bullying Tj… Almost like it’s a cycle of abuse or something...

-------------------------

That concludes Tj up until Wednesday. Thank you everyone for taking the time to read and interacting <3 Some very... interesting stuff is being done here. Howly, the author, is really getting into using the medium to its fullest potential, and we’ll see more of that as we continue on.

Next Weeks Reading Assignment is just TJ’s Thursday! End on this line:

"He runs up the road and back toward town, disappearing into the bright sunset."

Or this Day Card:

#zombie book club #furry visual novel book club #echo vn #echovn #echo project #echoproject #echo visual novel #echovisualnovel

[leoalvarez-clowncarcommittee]

Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 10 SPOILERS:

Hi everyone, here is the SPOILER discussion post for “Echo - Leo’s Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday”

Links: Previous - Next - Original - Spoiler Free Version

Back to Monday, and back to the river scene. Chase must decide who to go to right after the fight and this time around we’ll be choosing Leo. Chase heads after Jenna and Leo, who are both looking to comfort the lynx, Chase’s own inner monologue stating that he wants to find TJ too. Stumbling upon Leo leaning against a rock, we get some highlights from Chase’s POV about the whole town. Train horns accent the background.

Despite the vitriol and distaste Chase has for Echo, part of him still has feelings for the town. Even if it’s stained with ugliness. 

Chase sees Jenna and Leo are arguing and only approaches once Jenna tells him too. Here we’re met with a unique choice. This is the only time a pair of characters are ‘grouped’ together for the route split. I’ll talk more about this when we do Jenna’s route but I wanted to point it out now. 

Chase chooses to talk with Leo, ‘talking’ to Leo for her about the argument the two were having.

-----------------------------------

Side Note: The first indication we’ve seen that non-hoofed animals also don’t wear shoes. Fucking Disgusting <3 (Even if it is cool world building!) 

----------------------------------- 

Chase immediately trips and falls on his stubby otter legs, starting a trend of leg injuries he’s accrued/will accrue over the novel. Very poignant to have it be the first thing that happens when the player selects Leo’s route… 

Howly warning the audience immediately what blindly following Leo without thinking will get you...

Leo comforts Chase for a moment, before being casually racist and lighting up a cig in response. Chase comments that Leo started only after Chase left for Pueblo. The two notice a carving in the rock attributing it to Carl and remarking how Carl never finished it. Leo is worried about Chase’s leg injury but the otter retorts with the wolf’s smoking habit and the two start a minor argument.

We see that Leo’s anger isn’t solely regulated to Flynn’s outburst, even dealing some out to Chase here. I’m not sure how to take this line. I think the more obvious one is that Leo has anger issues, and that his love for Chase doesn’t ‘fix’ that, and he’s prone to lashing out. Upon this re-read, I’m also picking up a BIT on tons of, Leo isn’t BACK IN LOVE with Chase just yet. It was Leo’s plan to invite everyone else, Chase having had contact the wolf privately letting him know he was coming back regardless, so Chase is more prone to Leo’s anger than if they were together again... Just something to come back to me.

Chase is surprised Leo is mad, and we get more context as the two talk about their breakup.

Chase plays into his anger and emotions, questioning any of the feelings he has. His refusal to talk or even think about subjects that are difficult for him, and bring up worse case scenarios to move the situation along sprout in Leo’s route early. I personally read this as Chase simply giving into his anger and frustration, and not a concrete feeling/sense of dread / doomed love between the two.

Leo, is very much understandably still upset over Chase leaving without finalizing their relationship status. Chase argues that it’s to late now, and Leo needs to find a solution to ‘his’ problem. The two bicker before Leo offers a solution…

Even just coming back to Echo, Chase still WANTS Leo. Leo wasn’t the problem, Echo itself is the problem keeping the two apart. If one of them could compromise without throwing away the other’s life it could work... but that delicate balance of their own life/community/sense of purpose IS what sets them as doomed lovers. They’re not inherently toxic or bad for the other... and in another life or time, maybe they could make it work. But not when they’re both so set to either STAY or LEAVE their bondage of Echo.

Chase wants to be with Leo, but staying in Echo doesn’t feel like an option for the otter. Chase questions if Leo IS obsessive, but drops the line of thought when the pair see Flynn walking back to town. Leo reassures Chase from Flynn’s tirade.

More hints to that something fundamental changed with Chase that day. It being so early and so before Jenna’s route makes it a fun foreshadowing to point out.

Chase lets Leo embrace as the two talk about their views on the town more.

Leo provides his point of view, the town of Echo being MUCH better than where he is from. Chase folds immediately, further embracing the wolf to comfort him and get out of the situation.

I would very much like to point out that Chase plays an innocent/frail American/White card as soon as Leo brings up the topic of Community/Background, and how while Echo is rough, there are tougher places in the world. Chase clearly feels some regret over his choice, but shuts down his own understanding and compartmentalization of it and chooses to flirt and act dumb instead of acknowledging that his upper-middle class life maybe wasn’t the ABSOLUTE worse. (This is made VERY murky by the supernatural but I think the comment is fair enough.)

Chase flirts with Leo, rubbing his thigh, trying to get the wolf to reverse course

Squeezing his thigh again, Chase plays his hand.

Both of them non-committal to their answer of the situation... to the very end. HEY WAIT A MINUTE 

Chase very purposely changes the subject immediately and Leo brings up planning for Carl’s ‘birthday’ party.

--Total Extra Analysis from this inane line of dialogue--

Hi, this line makes me ugly cry. Leo is willing to be there, to support Chase in his struggles. To make him as comfortable and happy and do what he needs to make Chase feel GOOD. He’ll stand by him, be his rock, his ANCHOR, if it means Chase can be happy. They’re so fucking willing to work and stand together that it makes it all the more tragic and painful that they don’t.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

TUESDAY:

The track Payton plays as Leo, Chase, TJ, and Jenna arrive at the mall in Payton. They head to off-brand Spencers and decide what gifts to get Carl.

mmmhhh...

TJ interjects, upset about being ditched for his hiking trip.The group scour the store and Chase decides to look at various items in the store, when we’re met with a choice.

“Look at comics”

Chase spots Jenna by the comics section and talks to her about Carl’s gift. The two debate the merits of manga

Okay it was like three or four foreshadowing things in a row I couldn’t help it.

“Look at action figures”

Chase finds TJ who is playing with a penis-water gun. The two talk about Chase flaking on the lynx but comments: 

What an absolute shock to Chase’s demeanor outside of and within TJ’s route. I think this line and Chase’s casualness of tossing TJ aside clearly cements that Chase is very much not himself or his-Sam-self during TJ’s route at all.

Re-convergence:

Chase finds Leo and the two discuss an action figure Leo is considering to buy for Carl, Leo sending out a few flirtatious lines in the process.

The twink-enjoy allegations are back on track BABY

Leo slaps Chase’s ass with his tail, Chase flirts back in response, slapping Leo’s ass with his otter tail, continuing their flirtation.

--shitpost tier comment--

Hey lets get that Echo Zombie AU with Nik’s zombie coming back from the grave to finish off James III, but mistakes Carl as him.

--------------------------

The group make their way back to the car, the music changing to a “Parking Lot”, an ambient city piece with the sounds of waves inter-cut with a desert cityscape.

More foreshadowing with classic horror situations as seen in the introduction... here’s my thoughts on it

Banter plays as the group discuss surviving a zombie attack, leading to Jenna challenging Leo to a race to see who's the fastest. Jenna handily beats Leo mere moments into the race, and in his distraught, Leo trips, injuring himself. Leo acts tough once Chase sees him injured, even offering to race again. Jenna extremely casually flirts with Chase, Leo’s smile turning ‘icy’ in response...

After an awkward ride, Jenna and TJ are dropped off for their hike and Leo fumbles to play some music, hoping to make Chase nostalgic for their time together. The track ‘Emo’ plays, a nostalgic melodic rift. Leo asks Chase if he still listens to this type of music as we’re met with a choice: (Side not, the scene has no variable or further split attached to it, only changing who we spend a few lines with) 

“It’s nostalgic”:

Chase says he could get use to the cheesy lyrics again, Leo agrees with him.

“It’s Terrible:”

Chase laments the cheesy lyrics… Leo agrees with him.

Re-convergence:

Hey I’m sure Leo agreeing with anything Chase says when they’re not arguing isn’t a bad sign... also hope cheesy emo lyrics doesn’t get brought up again in a way that would crush my soul :)

Also did they used to explicitly reference the artist, “Hop, Skip, & the Chewtoys” right here before the anniversary update? I feel like they did, or it’s SOMEWHERE in the novel, but I can not remember.

Chase mouths the lyrics under his breath.

The scene transitions to Leo’s house. One of Leo’s neighbors, Kudzu a raccoon, pesters Chase. Leo introduces the two, and after an awkward introduction (Of Chase being racist), ushers Chase inside his house. After unpacking the two retire to Leo’s bedroom.

Chase notices three holes punched in the wall next to Leo’s computer.

So during my first play-through this was the first time I was attracted to Leo...  cause got-dam do he be crazy sometimes 🥴 🥴 🥴 🥴

Chase teases Leo about his anger issues and we get a bit of backstory the two have regarding a fight… Chase deflects and Leo happily abides by it to change the subject. Leo heads to clean up his wounds.After being directed to message Carl on the wolf’s computer, Chase decides to snoop around, spying on Leo’s bookmarks and history tab.

Chase wonders if Leo was only into him because of an otter fetish… but then notices another pattern. 

The track, “Hysteria” begins to play. Chase tries to click out of the window but Leo’s computer freezes just as Leo begins to come back to the room. Just as Leo is about to catch him, Chase the window closes the window in time. Chase acts innocent, and Leo takes the opportunity to rough-house cuddle with the otter on his bed. Chase makes up a lie trying to get out of being tickled by Leo, and the wolf buys it.

hhhnnggg they wrestle and he lets him win ajdsfksdjfklakdfasdfnlk

Chase returns the playful treatment and the two collapse on the bed together, relaxing for a moment until Chase notices something on Leo’s bedside table.

Chase is shocked, stating that Leo hates guns. Almost like the game is saying there is something WRONG with Leo, and not that he’s a republican...

Leo says he needs it for protection and that he’ll explain later. Chase agrees as he thinks about what he’s been doing.

Intimate begins to play as the two cuddle proper on the bed. Leo mentions seeing Chase outside his window, waking Chase from his daze. They talk about who it could have been and rule out the other otter living in town. Leo says he wishes what’s happening now isn’t fake and Chase inter-cuts with cheesy emo lyrics, falling asleep next to the wolf right after.

Chase wakes in what is presumably a nightmare. The discoloration and drone of an angry voice being reminiscent of the night terrors we’ve seen in Carl’s route. A voice, different from the recurring one, tells Chase that he can’t hide. A video plays of Chase on Leo’s computer monitor, showing Chase in a sexually compromising position as the image burns. A tarantula crawls up the side bed to Chase’s chest. Chase accepts the night terror and lets it wash over him, before another presence startles him. Something taps at the window, trying to get Chase’s attention. 

Chase wakes, the weight of the spider and the presence IN the room are gone. He still feels the presence of something outside of the room…

A bit of note. I think the spider is representative of Chase’s guilt, which matches with the voice saying that Chase can’t hide, and that presence being Sydney’s ‘ghost’ (not his Echo), or what Chase imagines Sydney’s ghost would be doing. Chase’s guilt and fear and mental state isn’t ALL Echo/The Entity, it’s just feeding off of it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

WEDNESDAY:

The group is heading towards Carl’s mansion, Chase reflecting on the nostalgia he has for the town. They spot Janice on the side of the road and we get a glimpse of the event we only heard from on Carl’s route. The scene is just as awkward and uncomfortable as was described to us earlier...

The group arrive at Carl’s house, unable to get in as the ram isn’t answering the door or his cellphone. Jenna and Leo decide to break in, Leo hosting Jenna into a high kitchen window in the process. As the group enters the now unlocked house, Quiet begins to play, setting the tons for Carl’s house. Flynn heads upstairs to get Carl from his room but the ram isn’t there. The group decide to search the mansion for Carl. Chase laments about his group’s inability or lack of trying to work together before bumping into Flynn while on the search.

This is a fun setup to read on Leo’s route because on Jenna’s route it completely makes this statement extremely true... also Flynn being the only one actually concerned that Carl is gone is both the truth/flaw with the characters. A bit of ‘no one is every WRONG, but their attachment and over reaction is what’s wrong.’ Also some food for the Carl/Flynn shippers ~

Loneliness begins to play as Flynn harps on Chase for cuddling with Leo at the lake. Flynn starts his rant saying that Chase getting back with Leo is stupid, but quickly switches to bringing up Sydney and the lake incident. Chase comments how he hasn’t even had a conversation with Flynn about it all these years. Chase refuses to talk about Sydney, but as he’s leaving Flynn attempts to warn Chase about Leo.

Flynn makes a remark, saying the Leo took advantage of Chase when he was 15... which references Chase and Leo becoming a couple as shown in the events of Route 65. I read this as Flynn lashing out in anger, and not actually concerned for Chase in that sort of way. Especially when he apparently hasn’t brought it up before, IGNORING Leo was 17, and that he’s lashing out more and more because Chase is willingly ignoring the Sydney of it all...

Before Flynn can finish, Leo calls the two of them back to the group. Now back together and being unable to find Carl still, Flynn storms out in anger, convinced that the ram is missing. The group split up, Jenna and TJ staying at Carl’s house while Leo and Chase head to Payton. After being unable to find him after a few hours of searching, Chase and Leo head to the diner for dinner.

Leo laments the group fracturing, convinced Carl left on purpose, and how they have all changed too much. Chase cheers Leo up by telling him the plan and spending time together has been the most fun he’s had in awhile. The pair are interrupted by Clint, a local meth-head who complains about Chase and Leo’s PDA. Leo responds rudely, angering Clint who responds with the incoherent Xenophobia.

Leo makes a rude remark about Clint’s sister, causing the ring-tail to punch the wolf. Leo anticipated the violence, stopping the punch and pinning Clint to the table. Janice breaks up the fight and Clint storms off. The two head to Leo’s house after a quick change at the motel and a quick convenience store run for beer. Intimate begins to play.

The two sit behind the store and drink together, Leo putting away much much more alcohol than Chase. Chase chastises Leo for bringing up Clint’s sister, the implication that Clint’s father had done something to Clint’s sister to land himself in jail...

In his less than sober and sad state, Leo begs Chase.

A glimpse we get of Leo’s psyche behind his mask. Part of him is broken and it hurts him and he’s desperate to fix it. (Not that Chase is responsible for Leo’s feelings 3 years later or that he’s obligated to come back TO fix it, just an observation!)

Chase responds with a non-committal maybe, and the two finish their beers together. After downing 10 beers, Chase has to help Leo walk back to his house before the two are jumped by Clint, now brandishing a crowbar. The track Argument plays. Leo lands a drunken punch on Clint before being struck with a crowbar across his back. Chase is able to jump onto Clint, preventing Leo’s face from being smashed with a crowbar. Chase takes a glancing blow from the crowbar. Leo takes Clint down and upon seeing Chase’s wounds, goes to pummel the ring-tail until he’s stopped by Kudzu. Kudzu sends the pair home, saying he’ll take care of Clint and Leo relents, concerned for Chase’s injury. Leo pukes from drinking to much and the two head back home.

Chase, once again questions how hurtful Leo was, and we get further implication about Clint’s dad’s actions. The two continue down the road until they're stopped by Duke, the crazed Weasel from Carl’s route. Duke remarks about Chase being in town and Leo steps between the two.

Duke comments about Leo seeing things and the two talking about it prior to tonight, saying now the weasel is seeing the same things Leo had seen. Duke says he he saw Chase in town. Duke asks Chase when the otter got to town, and after hearing the answer, only stares at the pair as they continue home.

The two arrive at Leo’s house and Leo starts to treat Chase’s wounds. The two argue about Chase’s injury, Chase choosing to ignore the topic instead. Leo ends up with his shirt off as the two clean each other’s wounds.

The two flirt a bit in the process, eventually ending up in a loving embrace with Chase propped up against the sink.

CG

Chase is hesitant to kiss but relents after a bit of nibbling, and just as he does

Leo jumps back, presumably seeing something in the mirror. The two head to bed, Leo not cuddling Chase that night.

Here’s my Mirror Man Theory, but TLDR: Whatever entity possess Chase in TJ’s route, gets Leo here, making him more unstable and violent, and that Mirror Man is an entity that drives people to act on violence through a hysteric lens of romance/love

And that was Leo’s first three days! Sorry I inter-cut the first part with so many pics... I have many things to say about Leo and the specific wording on a lot of things is very important to me ! Thanks for reading everyone.

Reading Assignment for Next Week is Leo’s Thursday and Leo’s Friday until this choice. Now there is a very significant story change choice we get here:

It doesn’t matter for an ending but changes context the characters have A LOT. For next week we’ll be reading until this choice so make a save at the line before it ~ (Using the rewind hotkey if needed!)

See everyone next Sunday

#zombie book club #furry visual novel book club #echo vn #echovn #echo project #echoproject #echo visual novel #echovisualnovel

[zeekerzzz]

Hello, welcome to my blog!1!!!1!!1!1!!11 X3

My name is AL, but I’m fine with anything adjacent to my username(zeeks, zeeker, ect ect); I’m a 24 year old digital artist, writer, musician and much more! Although I mostly reblog things, I’ll post my art or just my thoughts. My DMs are open, but please keep in mind that I am in a relationship, so nothing weird please!!💕

Feel more than free to DM me with art requests! I’m desperate these days for something to get the creative juices flowing lol :3 I can draw most animals, furry or feral, but I can’t promise if you ask me to draw a human it’s gonna turn out looking good.. :/

My Interests/Please Interact if You’re Interested in:

FURRIES!! Heavy on this

Warriors(book series)

Omori

Boyfriend to Death

Bojack Horseman

Chicago(The Musical)

Good Omens

Lurking for Love

Beastars

My Chemical Romance

Placebo(The Band)

Doki Doki Literature Club

DnD

Scene/scenecore

Welcome Home

Faith: The Unholy Trinity

Bluey

Melanie Martinez

John Doe(I’m unsure if anything else goes by this, so to clarify I mean John Doe the visual novel)

Inside Job💔

And pet/pup play shit🙏🏾

I know this is quite the long list, but it just broadens the horizons :3

Now for the easy part, though:

DNI:

Homophobes, Transphobes, xenophobes — every -phobe…..social distance from me🙏🏾

MAPs, “no contact” MAPS, pedophiles and zoophiles. You people are fucking disgusting and I want no part of what you’ve got going on.

Mysoginysts, I hope I spelled that right-

Furry haters

Racists

People who post exclusively/excessively about Queen(the band) and/or David Bowie or The Beatles

I think that’s all!

Thank you for taking the time to read this, have a great day/night!!! 💕💕💕

#bd/sm pet #furry #my chemical romance #warrior cats #inside job #boyfriend to death #lurking for love #john doe #welcome home #beastars #bojack horseman #omori #puppy sub

[kane-the-fed-pinkerton-tulpa]

The Smoke Room Spoilers: Echo Furry Visual Novel Book Club Week 6

This post contains extremely spoiler content for TSR VN and is meant as a companion piece to Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 6 SPOILERS. This post also spoils Carl’s Route so if you aren’t up to date as of Build 24 of TSR or completed Carl’s Route in Echo, I would suggest doing so before reading. If not linked from the Book Club Post, this post will make little to no sense!

Point 1:

To me, this definitely feels more in line with 88883 than John or James I. The chase through the attic is reminiscent of Leo’s Route (which was the intent mosmt likely) but can definitly be linked to Sam and Nik’s mine escape (which is also a reverse-call back to Leo’s route). The way the creature stalks Sam in the murder-mineshaft after killing Jack is also very reminiscent of this entity stalking Chase.

Point 2:

Definitely one of the moments that sets up the most from Cordelia hearing voices where rooms don’t exist. Hearing and smudging voices and echoes across time/timelines... It makes me a little sad that even if you don’t ‘die’, there can still be an Echo of you from A timeline suffering in theory. I think the line from Cordelia has a LOT of lore implications I’m eager to explore.

Point 3:

Definitely some possible inspiration for 88883 IMO. I thought maybe even perhaps the Bull-Demon before the following line clarifying it was a spider. Interested in waiting to see what more we can get from those two, either forwards or  backwards in time.

[ruffrowdyboiz]

Holy fuck I just had the funniest dream about being back in high school and having the author of a furry romance visual novel as a guest speaker for the day and also my class starting a yugioh and tuna club, if you win you get to decide on the tuna dish for the week!!! Anyways so I was the one who had the furst addition copy of the furry romance visual novel and the main protag who was a socially awkward green tiger jackel thing had like... fur on him like you get in children’s books and the author asked me to describe how it felt to the class 😅 And as for the yugioh and tuna club. It was decided that every week we would have a yugioh tournament to decide who was the champion for that week, if you won weeks consecutively your tuna dish would be served to everyone until you were beaten lmao

#dream journal

[anime-ace]

Summer 2017 (part 4/8)

Hitorijime My Hero

Other Titles: ひとりじめマイヒーロー, My Very Own Hero

Source: manga

Studio: Encourage Films

Genre: slice of life, school, shounen ai

Story involving Kensuke's brother, Ooshiba Kousuke and friend, Setagawa Masahiro from Hitorijime Boyfriend.

A spin-off of Hatorijime Boyfriend, a shounen ai that doesn’t really stand out. I don’t know much about it, but it seems cute. The two mains are a hapless lackey delinquent and a delinquent-hunter. Maybe I’ll give it a chance. -Ace

THE REFLECTION

Other Titles: ザ・リフレクション

Source: original

Studio: Studio Deen

Genre: action, super power

After THE REFLECTION, some of the people in all parts of the world are discovered with super powers. Some become heroes, and others villains. How did the Reflection happen? What was the cause of it? With many unsolved mysteries, the world is lead into turmoil.

There isn’t much information about this yet, but it seems to have a superhero-type premise. -Ace

Gamers!

Other Titles: ゲーマーズ!, Gamers! Amano Keita to Seishun Continue, Gamers! Amano Keita and youth continue

Source: light novel

Studio: Pine Jam

Genre: comedy, romance, school

This is a story that revolves around certain students and one hobby. Amano Keita is our lonely protagonist who has a passion for gaming and is friends with Uehara Tasuku, who is secretly a fellow gamer and is someone who believes his life is perfect. We also have Karen Tendou, the club president of the video games club and Chiaki Hoshinomori, who constantly bickers with Keita. This is a story filled with a non-stop sequence of comedy scenes and misunderstandings. Our chaotic romantic comedy now begins!

Uh. Please stop ruining my hobby...I can’t sympathize with the “average” MC at all, he has some weird obsession with back covers. Those things are useless you know. The “school idol” heroine is boobs + elitist attitude. I can’t stand people who dismiss some games as “for casuals” and look down on other gamers...this is just a generic rom-com with game flavor. At least Keita tells her how stupid that is, but still. -Ace

Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart

Other Titles: ノラと王女と野良猫ハート; Nora, Princess, and Stray Cat

Source: visual novel

Studio: ???

Genre: comedy, ecchi

Nora Handa is a boy who lives with Shachi Yuuri, who was adopted by his mother. With everyone supporting, the two of them grew up healthily even after their parents passed away. Shachi, who likes Nora the most, wakes him up every morning. Nora spends his happy student life with Michi Kuroki, who is a disciplinary committee, honor student at school and childhood friend of the main character, Yuuki Asuhara, who is a gal but is very bright and can talk his worries to, and more friends at school. One day, Nora meets a girl who calls herself Patricia at the park on the way to the school. Patricia is a queen of hell, and claims to come here to destroy the life on land. However, she is damaged heavily because she touched the life for the first time. The energy was stronger than her, so Nora needed to tend her. Patricia asked him to tell her about the mysteries of life, and he had to even explain the ero book that he found at the park...?!

Sounds like crap. -Ace

Centaur no Nayami

Other Titles: センタールの悩み, Centaur’s Worries

Source: manga

Studio: Haoliners Animation League

Genre: slice of life, comedy, supernatural, fantasy, seinen

Himeno is a sweet, shy little centaur girl. In her world, everyone seems to be a supernatural creature, and all her classmates have some kind of horns, wings, tails, halos, or other visible supernatural body part. Despite their supernatural elements, Himeno and her best friends, Nozomi and Kyouko, have a fun and mostly normal daily school life!

Furry moe. They talk about what apparently men think women talk about. -Ace

#season #hitorijime my hero #the reflection #gamers #noraoujo #centaur no nayami

[visualnovelzombie]

Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 18

Hi everyone, here is the SPOILER FREE discussion post for “Echo - TJ’s Saturday”

Links: Previous - Next - Original - Spoiler Version

Feel free to respond in reblogs/replies/or asks :D

The day opens with the group arriving at Lake Emma. Chase is having some serious self-reflective thoughts about Carl, about how suddenly, he’s upset with how Carl treats himself and acts, saying Carl causes everything himself. Carl and Jenna ride in the truckbed, Chase darkly thinking what might happen to them if there was an accident… Chase is also sure to sit between Julian and Tj on the way over. Chase’s thoughts are distorted and dark the whole time…

The group walk towards the boulder, Tj taking Chase’s paw on the way.

 Chase feeds into the negative world view with his thoughts, knowing things will ‘never be the same.’ Julian continues to annoy Chase with is very presence… but the otter’s grip on Tj calms him down. Chase continues to neg Carl while they look for the last spot. Chase points out the sand he unearthed the night before, calling into question the ‘legitimacy’ of the final part he changed. The group find the lunchbox and begin to open it.

The group read the altered note

Chase changed the note to implicate Flynn had set up the scavenger hunt. In the fallout, he comforts Tj, pulling him into an… embrace. Julian asks what’s wrong, Chase putting more blame on Flynn, until he’s interrupted by Tj.

Jenna and Carl defend Flynn, saying while he’s a jerk this is too convoluted for him to try and pull. Chase turns, blaming Carl for working with the gila. Jenna tries weakly to defend Carl, but Chase continues. Carl starts to hyperventilate from the attack, Chase bemoaning the ram’s anxiety… with a little comment from our recurring entity.

Tj rushes past Chase and Jenna, physically attacking Carl with swipes of his claws. Carl dodges backwards into the rocks, tripping and breaking his ankle from his hoof being lodged at a weird angle. Chase holds Tj back as the lynx continues his swipes… going limp in Chase’s arms. Chase takes Tj away from the scene as Jenna and Julian call an ambulance.

The two walk back to the motel, Tj crying to himself along the way. Tj blames himself for Carl breaking his leg, but Chase assures him it’s only fair after what Carl ‘pulled’. The two talk about what happened as Chase drapes himself over the lynx.

The entity insinuates what’s happening to Tj… is happening to Chase… 

Chase continues to blame Flynn and Carl, saying that Tj did nothing wrong despite how bad it got. The two arrive at the motel and rest. Jenna texts Chase, telling him that Carl is saying it was only an accident, and that she’s staying with some friends in Payton, suggesting Chase and Tj leave early. Chase is happy she’s leaving early. Tj want’s to see Carl, not wanting to leave things like they are.

Chase says he wants to spend the rest of the weekend with Tj, ignoring everyone and everything else. Tj brings up Chase’s project, the otter saying he doesn’t mind if he fails.

Chase reflects about his plan going so well, even if he didn’t want to go THAT far, but is happy with the result anyways. Chase still isn’t sure who planted the notes, and still assumes that it’s Flynn and Carl… Just then, Flynn arrives to the motel room, and the otter goes to intercept him while Tj stays inside the room. The two talk, Flynn upset the group were down to the lake. Chase thinks to himself, wanting to egg him on, push it further than it should…

Chase tries to get Flynn to admit to planting the notes, but Flynn doesn’t seem to know anything about it. Flynn tries to get to the door to talk to Tj more, but Chase grabs him, slamming him back towards the truck. Flynn tries it again, Chase grappling him. They start to fight, the gila sending a punch at Chase who tackles him to the ground. Chase ends up on top of him, the entity saying ‘weak’, Chase repeats it aloud to Flynn. 

Flynn is afraid and hurt, lying there as Chase gets up. The gila gets in his truck and leaves, Chase returning to the motel. Tj said he got a text from Julian, and wants to talk to the deer before leaving. Chase begrudgingly agrees, while Tj is grateful for Chase being there for him.

Time passes, and Julian picks the two up, heading towards Payton. On the way the group decide what to do. Julian discuss going to the movies, and Chase suggests the family plex

Despite not going to Payton in this route, Chase knows it’s open, and insists on going. Chase continues to become more and more angry at completely innocuous things Julian does, annoyed the deer is even spending time with Tj and him, despite driving to the place with them. Chase wastes his money, trying to get the group to leave the arcade as Julian helps Tj play…

Chase says he has a headache, and the group return to the motel instead of watching a movie. Tj is tired on the way over, and Chase offers him his shoulder to rest on.

Chase falls asleep too, only waking when Julian pulls off the road to help Janice, whose gotten a flat tire. Julian helps her change the tire while Tj and Chase wait nearby. Janice brings up how Flynn had told her about Chase’s project, and offers to tell Chase ghost stories she has about the town. Chase is indignant, wanting to do a more fact-based story on the town. He relents after Tj’s encouragement.

Janice recalls a story her grandfather, Andy Adler, had told her about an event that happened in the 1940s. He was accosted with his wife in the forest by an entity jumping from tree to tree, chasing them with a mechanical voice… Janice then recalls Brian’s story about a UFO, Chase ignoring it completely. She goes on another story, from a podcast.

Chase asks Janice if anything has happened to her, and she goes quiet… Chase wants to get footage of the forest as Julian finishes up, and asks Tj to go along with him. As the two enter, Chase lightly teases him, the lynx blushing. Chase offers him his paw, and after a bit of coercing, Tj takes it. The two walk paw-in-paw through the forest together. Chase tells Tj about the fox he saw hanging, and how the things people see in town aren’t real. The lynx is scared but Chase reassures him, saying he’s there for him.

Tj asks Chase what’s been going on, saying he himself hasn’t been feeling well… In complete silence .

"It lasts a moment."

"Our lips meet, mine on his for the first time."

"It's a moment of pure bliss, and I close my eyes to show the lynx just how passionate I am about it."

"I feel his lips freeze up against mine, then suddenly they're gone."

"I open my eyes in time to see TJ stumbling backwards."

"One paw flies up to his mouth as the other stretches out behind himself, as if worried he's going to run into the trees."

"I guess I surprised him."

"I smile and follow the cat, reaching out my paws."

Tj is apprehensive and confused, Chase not understanding why. Tj backs away. Chase grips his arm, explaining to him the visual novel romance the two have been on for the past week. Chase continues on, unsure what’s going on…

Chase asks if Tj’s been leading him on the whole weak, and pulls himself closer. Tj strikes Chase and runs away. Chase waits in the forest for anything to happen… Time passes and the sun has set. Chase begins to pack the camera, and notices a shape near him. Something in the outline of a person, breathing. Chase follows it, the ‘painting’ like thing blending through objects. The entity attached to Chase tells him not to pursue it, that it’s distorted and false, ‘just like I was’.  It tells him it’s evil, and Chase runs out of the forest in fear. The sound of static loops in the background as the new entity runs after Chase.

The static breaks as Chase breaks from the forest, now back on the road. The cars are gone and Chase walks back to the motel by himself. Chase arrives back at the room, hoping to see Tj… only for the room to be dark and vacant. He realizes he left the camera in the forest… but doesn’t care. Nothing matters to Chase because Tj’s left him too. Chase falls asleep crying on the bed.

Chase has a night terror, but chooses to open his eyes, no longer caring what befalls him. An ambient track plays called ‘Static Statues’, a foreboding and ominous loop. Chase hears footsteps at the foot of his bed. It’s a a fox. He hangs himself in the motel room closet, Chase unable to look away. Chase ‘wakes up’, sitting up in bed, able to move. The fox doesn’t disappear, Chase not in an actual night terror. The body fades as his eyes stare into Chase’s. Chase begins to freak out, but the entity on him tells the otter that it simply ‘was’.

A banging sounds clangs from the bathroom and Chase rushes to see what it is. 

Chase opens the door, and despite hearing breathing, there’s nothing visible to the eye. Drag beings to play as the unknown entity tells Chase to close the door. Chase knows it’s not the usual one, that ‘he’s hiding’ and ‘afraid’ of the new thing talking to him.

Chase doesn’t close the door all the way, wanting to look at the entity through the mirror. He sees the same version of him from the diner, distorted and wrong.  He stares at it for a long time before asking what’s happening. 

The entity tells Chase that him returning with his secret almost ‘started it’, that the town might survive if everyone finds out, and that everyone is about to find out. Chase asks the thing if it’s Sydney. It responds by shaking violently.. Chase feels like the thing he’s talking to is ‘old, monolithic, and ancient.’ The thing, Mirror-Man as dubbed by the fan community, tells Chase that Flynn is going to tell everyone now after Chase attacked him. It tells Chase to keep his secret he needs to…

It says the whole Moore family is made up of liars. Chase is apprehensive, unsure if he can do it. He asks the entity who he is, saying that while it IS Sydney, it is MORE than Sydney… Chase asks it why it’s helping him, and the thing tells him the town needs secrets. Chase touches his face, feeling scars instead of his fur and freaks out, turning on the light and leaving the bathroom. It’s light outside, signaling he’s been in there for hours. Chase falls asleep…

Leo knocks on the door, waking him up after sometime. Leo apologies, saying he was feeling down after Chase didn’t talk to him, and ignored the otter. Leo asks Chase to come back just him during the summer… and Chase agrees. When Leo leaves, Chase remarks how hard it was to keep that conversation going the way it was, only playing into what Leo wanted to hear.

Chase goes back inside and sleeps, hearing whispers from the bathroom again as a dream sequence plays.

It’s the day at the lake Sydney died. Chase was bored hanging out with Leo and Jenna, and decided to swim back towards Tj and Sydney, wanting to surprise them. Chase finds Sydney sitting on top of Tj’s back, the lynx face down in the water. Sydney’s face is emotionless. 

Chase swims through the water and tackles Sydney off of Tj. Chase thinks that Sydney is upset ONLY because of getting caught, and asks him why he did it. Chase punches Sydney and hits his throat. Chase tackles Sydney into the water, holding his head underneath. Chase lets him up after a few seconds, Sydney responding by saying he’s going to tell Leo that Chase tried to kill him. Chase snaps, thinking that Sydney was going to try and kill Tj, and now afraid he’ll be branded the murderer instead. Chase remarks that Sydney is weak now, especially in the water. Time passes with a set of ellipses, and Chase is back at the river with Leo… trembling alone below the waves.

Time passes again, a phone call from Julian wakes up Chase. Julian says something strange happened after Tj spent the night at Julian’s palace, due to what Chase did. He had bought Tj a ticket back to his college and while they were waiting for the bus, Flynn arrived and Tj went with him somewhere. Julian is afraid because Tj isn’t answering texts, and that he missed his bus. Julian doesn’t want to involve Chase, but doesn’t have anyone else's number to contact.

Chase hops in his car, Mirror-Man sitting in the back seat, visible through the rear-view mirror.

Chase drives to the lake, knowing exactly where Flynn and Tj are. Chase considers leaving, but knows his life will be over if he doesn’t stop what’s happening… like he’s a set of train tracks that can’t stop. That he’s been on this path since he decided he wanted to protect Tj.

He find Flynn and Tj near the shallows, Tj looking disheveled. It’s then Chase decides this is what he WANTS to do. Flynn and Chase argue, Chase bringing up the scavenger hunt at the behest of Mirror Man. Chase pulls ‘Flynn’s Note’ from his pocket, the one he forged himself… Instead showing him the real the note that was in the lunchbox. 

Mirror-Man has left Chase, no longer driving his emotions or strength. The group stand there, aghast at the reveal. Flynn tackles Chase to the ground, the otter unable to fight back without his supernatural strength or confidence. Mirror-Man watches as Flynn hits Chase over and over again. The familiar entity says that they’re all puppets. Right before Chase passes out, Tj speaks up

Tj lies, saying he’s the one who killed Sydney. Saying he pushed him and that it was an accident. Mirror-Man is back now, telling Chase that Flynn is going to kill ‘Toby’. Chase crushes the back of Flynn’s skull with a rock. Flynn tries to tackle Chase, but he stays standing… and the otter brings the two of them to the water. Flynn scratches at Chase, but he doesn’t let go.

Chase pushes the two of them further into the depths of the lake. 

The song, ‘Sunrise Without You’, begins to play. Flynn is desperate, pleading with is eyes and doing everything he can to get free. Chase holds him, closing his eyes and himself off to continue drowning Flynn. Flynn finally learns the truth, paying with is life in the process.

Chase surfaces and sees the distorted visage of Mirror-Man in his reflection on the water. 

Chase comforts Tj, saying that Flynn won’t hurt him anymore. Tj sobs, asking Chase why he did it. The sounds of waves stops.

Chase says that they can lie, that they can say Flynn tried to kill them… that the presence that left when Flynn found out is back now. The original entity says that they’re manipulated… that we keep moving in circles. The two drive to the police station… Tj asking Chase to take him back to college, already ‘forgetting’

Chase hopes he can forgot too as the they drive off into the sunset…

-------------------------

So that was Tj’s route. We learned that Chase WAS the one to kill Sydney, and in an attempt to keep his secret, killed Flynn in desperation, egged on by a new malicious entity. There’s a LOT going on, with Chase thinking he’s ‘earned’ Tj’s love (the meta commentary of the game being a VN coming around), the depths of Chase’s psychosis and fear as something that IMO, can be described as some sort of Eldritch Entity erodes his mind and actions. How Leo is more docile and less abrasive. How Chase breaks Tj again, the lynx resigning himself to stay with Chase...

I do want to cover one ‘plot’ setup that I think I finally understand after this re-read, and that is, what physically happened on this route, and it’s mechanics.

I think it is safe to say, that Tj has an entity attached to him, that’s very similar to the one attached to Chase. I think it’s even likely the entity is Sydney ‘himself’... or something in the guise of Sydney. The entity set up the Scavenger Hunt. They set up the notes and kept them secure or hidden, which is why they are all old and worn. However, taking Tj’s body in a way similar to how Chase is controlled at times, this entity piloted Tj to plant the scavenger hunt pieces upon returning to town. That’s why Tj knows WHERE they are, but not what’s in them.It’s why Tj acts so out of character this route, being consumed or overshadowed by it at times.

Based on the description we get from Janice, and how Mirror-Man is described, combined with the meta-type commentary, I also think it’s fair to speculate that the horror of the game is Cosmic In Nature (ie Cthulu/Edlritch genres.) Something old, ancient, and powerful sleeps underneath, that seems to influence the towns people, causing memory gaps, psychosis, and infecting people with entities that push and pull characters in different directions for some goal... because this town ‘needs’ secrets.

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Epilogue:

Five years have gone by as an unknown narrator showcases a scene between a bear named Devon, and a coyote named Cameron driving through Echo. The two arrive at the lake, Devon taking out a few camera bags. The two embrace in a kiss and walk paw-in-paw to the shoreline. Cameron asks why they’re at the lake, Devon responding that someone died in 2015. Cameron asks if it was during the hysteria, but Devon says that happened in 2017…

Devon gets some shots of the lake before heading back, Cameron turning around to head back as well, before seeing Flynn splayed out on the lake in the shallows, starring upwards… with chunks of his face missing. 

The two look back and there’s nothing there. They head back to the car as credits play, images showcasing a background from Arches being shown the whole time.

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The epilogue teases Arches, a visual novel set in Echo during 2020. It’s complete now, and you can see all of Dev and Cam’s story here.

For the purpose of this discussion, I’ll talk about what we learn. Flynn did in fact die at the lake, and that the Hysteria we saw in Leo and Carl’s route, was delayed till 2017... all of it contained within Chase. His secret was learned by Flynn afterall...even though he has a new one with Tj now.

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So that was our third route. I’ll be taking next week off, but be on the lookout for a poll coming today, and it’s results next Sunday, that will determine our next route. Thanks everyone for coming along on this journey through Echo with me ~

#zombie book club #furry visual novel book club #echo vn #echovn #echo project #echoproject #echo visual novel #echovisualnovel

[visualnovelzombie]

Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 11 SPOILERS

Hi everyone, here is the SPOILER discussion post for “Echo - Leo’s Thursday and Friday”

Links: Previous - Next - Original - Spoiler Free Version

Feel free to respond in reblogs/replies/or asks :D

We start Thursday with Chase and Leo driving down the road, the two finally learning what happened to Carl. The ram was in the crawlspace left to wander about without Chase spending the night with him. Chase and Leo discuss Chase’s project, the two chiding to each other the merit of college in the process.

RANT: If you think Leo is a hard-line Republican/Trumper and use this part ‘evidence’, you can’t fucking read. Even without Howly’s Trump statement re:Leo retraction, that’s a VERY fucking different thing in 2016 and has a LOT of context. This liberal thing is literally Leo lashing out at his own failings/fall to pressure from his father, as well as his irrational anger over Pueblo ‘stealing’ Chase from him. This is the second time Leo expressed interest in College in someway, and is regurgitating hate/ignorant speech as a coping mechanism. Please learn to read and not just fucking meme.

They plan to meet with TJ later to make up for bailing on him Tuesday, and discuss filming out the rail-yard in the meantime. The scene changes to the rail-yard, the track ‘Oldwinds’ playing, a rustic American Western piece.

Insane Posting: Okay add this to my Samuel x Chase ship folder, lets go people lets go!

Chase films the rail-yard while Leo fetches water bottles, until eventually the rustling of grass startles Chase.

Okay now this is interesting in a ‘meta’ lore sense. So this is obviously some kind of supernatural being. Something fucking with Chase. I don’t think there’s enough evidence to say what yet, even Socketman right here and right now doesn’t track to much. But more importantly it’s described as dragging, similar to the ‘slithering’. I think this gives more credence that the entity that chases after Carl and Chase in Carl’s route isn’t necessarily the entity that stalks Sam and Chase in the Murder Pitt. Maybe it’s just how some/all of the entities move on a physical space.

While trying to find the source of the sound, Leo arrives on the scene, scaring Chase.

Everyone bullies my poor otter boy... and that makes him kinnie

Come Over begins to play as Chase asks Leo how he made the dragging noise, to which Leo acts completely clueless to. Distracted by Chase’s stomach, the two end up flirting with each other, rubbing and admiring each other’s body.

Another reference to Route 65, the two sharing another moment together in this place that means... everything to them. They’re begging, end... and beginning of the end. Chase’s ‘Sunset Station’ if you will.

They kiss gently… at first. The sudden shock encouraging them to make out more fully. Before the two can continue, Kudzu shows up, catching the two in their PDA. The track changes to Neutral as the conversation shifts. The raccoon teases the pair but otherwise partakes in casual conversion with them afterwards. Leo thanks the raccoon for helping the two last night, the track Quiet playing as the conversation shifts. Kudzu warns Leo that Clint is being more violent and the pair should avoid him. Leo becomes more and more agitated at the insinuation that Clint threatened Chase.

Sidenote: AWOOGA. Thank you Howly, Based God, for including full muzzle wolf kisses in Latino Wolf simulator route. Truly a visionary ahead of his time.

Chase changes the conversation topic, inviting Kudzu to the park with the pair and TJ. The group pick up TJ off screen and on route to a park in Payton, we learn that Chase isn’t a good swimmer when compared to other otters. Closer to the park itself, Chase and TJ talk in the backseat, the lynx admitting to Chase that he felt like the trip was a mistake, and he felt like he shouldn’t have come. 

Chase very literally ignoring everyone for his and Leo’s sake again. Also more of the coldness Chase generally has towards TJ... more ‘evidence’ the Chase we see on that Route isn’t fully him IMO. This definitely calls into question how good of a friend Chase is, and if anything how Leo and Chase treat everyone else when they’re together is the most outright toxic and rude thing they do with each other that is probably harder to ‘fix’ than most things.

…Before the mood can shit to much the group arrives at the field, dividing the teams for a match of soccer.

TJ completely dominates the game and the group laugh about the imbalance in players. As the group prepare to leave, Chase and Kudzu have a moment to themselves to talk. Chase apologies for being racist and the conversation turns cold, with Kudzu hinting at something heavy happening to the him whilst in Payton.

The scene cuts to later, with Chase returning to the rail-yard for more footage.

Two important things here that are back to back. Chase literally goes out of his way to make the town look WORSE than it already his. His mind is so poisoned and made up about the place, that he’ll make sure everyone else feels the same way. Poising his own-well and all that.

As Leo’s motif/time of day is the setting sun, this is also a ‘foreshadow’ or hint towards what’s coming. No matter what happens with Leo... it has to end. They’re to far gone in their delusion and lack of communication to fix things. The Sun WILL set on the two... Bittersweet and all.

Clint wanders into the rail-yard while on a walk, eventually noticing Chase. He’s high on something and doesn’t remember the night before. Chase notices he has a gun in his pocket and tries to keep him calm..Clint talks to Chase, ignorant but not completely hateful… at least to being gay itself. and gives his perspective on Leo.

We get more of Leo’s anger and rage here. Leo took out his feelings, and continues to do so, by bullying those weaker than him. Clint not having a place to relax or be himself, with his home life dominated by his abusive father, and social life dominated by Leo... the ringtail ended up ‘worse’ arguably because of Leo. While child-selfishness and anger and Echo’s general ability to ramp up negative emotions, even outside of the Hysteria, is definitely call to ‘shield’ Leo, Chase and the audience is finally starting to learn that there’s an anger and darkness deeper down that we’ve been shown so far.

Clint seemingly threatens Chase with a gun, demanding to know why he’s out here. Chase calms him down by referencing his camera, and Clint tells Chase a story about someone dying the in 50’s hopping trains. Clint reveals his father would always tell him that story, and that sometimes he sees the man in it, even purposely coming to the rail-yard to see him at times. Clint walks off afterwards and Chase hurries back to Leo’s house.

When Chase arrives, Leo is eating a TV Dinner, having ‘cooked’ one for Chase as well. Chase asks Leo if the wolf ‘bullied’ Clint, and Leo almost admits to it… before the cheapness of the TV dinner causes the two to jokingly tease each other back and forth it with, the two man-handling each other on the couch as a result.

Insane Posting: Hi, my local goon cave called and they requested both of these go up on the wall, framed and blown up to 5x6 feet each... But more seriously Howly’s... ‘interest’ in Latino men (Looking at Leo and Devon) is on full blast here... and by god am I looking.

Two two fall asleep on the couch together, both exhausted from the day

Insane Posting: Chase’s musky ass didn’t shower and Leo was fucking smooshing him into that couch... Hot

Friday opens with the two at the library, Chase actually working on his project doing some research. Chase learns that the man in the story was real, and that he reported being saved by some creature.

HOWLY PLEASE. Literally learning the cost of staying with him like this. Not learning or changing, but literally dangling his legs into the abyss.

Leo bugs Chase to grab dinner and the two make plans on where to eat.

This is such a dark and twisted view into Leo. Up until now, beyond anger issues, he’s been relatively ‘okay’. But this is where thing turn manipulative and truly concerning. Not only for what he’s doing, but for outright lying to Chase. Leo’s a troubled man, and this turn to outright manipulation and control to get what he wants is dark and fascinating... It isn’t enough for me to ‘cancel’ him myself, or completely disavow the two (as highlighted later), but it’s definitely one of the very much actual ‘red flags’ Leo displays. This is where he’s at his lowest point in my opinion. There’s a difference between coddling and ignoring the situation he’s manipulating (Agreeing with Chase with the music, only pulling strings) to OUTRIGHT lying, bringing it up to put others down... to lessen them to Chase. One of the more intense things Leo does in the whole novel.

The two eat at a steakhouse, Leo insisting he buys, and on the way back they take a detour to Payton High, the pair’s old school. They reminiscence about school, Intimate begins to play. Chase mentions he would repeat high-school to fix mistakes, while Leo wants to relive it for its own sake. Chase learns that Leo is deeply tied to his past, upset he doesn’t feel the same anymore. 

This is their doomed fate I love so much. They share interests, mutual body attractiveness, displays of affection, and bond and find comfort in each other... but fundamentally they want or need different things. Echo bound them together, anchoring each other to the rocks of the craggy shore... And in that web of mistrusts and falsehoods and circumstance... love bloomed. Leo and Chase truly care for each other, they truly want each other to be happy, and both WANT to be happy with the other. But their rock, their flag in the sand, their Rubicon... IS Echo. It IS the game. It IS the point. The point isn’t that they’re toxic and abusive and hate each other deep down. It’s that they’ve built themselves up and torn themselves down on the idea of the past, both positive and negative. Of Echo, of the Town itself, of The Entity and the Player and of Sam, of the things that make up the ugly and good: together. It’s tied together fused forcibly and neither of them are able to TRULY dissect and separate themselves from it (Insert Micha in Brian’s trailer) from it. Sure Chase agrees to try Echo again... but only for Leo himself, not because he’s okay with the idea, or receptive to loving or even just living in the town. It’s all at a cost to himself, to his freedom, and to each other. The two can’t move on or find happiness when neither of them is truly willing to compromise... and that’s why they’ll be each other’s Sunset. That’s why they can’t work... because just like this town, they’re only moving in circles...

Chase comforts the wolf, the two embracing on the stadium stand.

This is where my main ‘defense’ of Leo comes from. He’s a troubled man but he’s willing to try and learn. He’s willing to make himself better, to make his partner happy. Deep down all he wants is TO love, to provide and be with someone who makes him happy. His motives are good... his actions aren’t the smartest.

Leo pours his heart out to Chase, begging him to stay. Chase is hesitant, not wanting to stay tied to the town. Leo tells Chase to try again after school, even if it’s just for awhile. So that they’ll know for sure.

And the crux of it all.. Leo wants closure. Three years ago Chase just didn’t break his heart, but left the wolf in state of chaos. He couldn’t move on, couldn’t accept the hand fate dealt him. Leo wants that chance. He truly believes that Chase and him CAN work, that the two deserve to TRY. Leo wants to give what’s in his heart to someone else... He doesn’t take the best actions, hell he probably doens’t know HOW to. But the wolf is trying... trying to fight for what he wants. The fact its wrong and sick makes it even more compelling...

Damn Chase... what else is going to STRIKE you.... But more seriously, the author is reminding/foreshadowing that ignoring everything comes at a cost...

The track Bittwerseet begins to play when Chase chooses Leo. 

...

The two embrace and kiss passionately on the stadium steps, the two feeling each other’s love.

The scene switches to the two on Leo’s bed, the two doing a bit more than ‘fooling around’. The scene cuts to afterwards, Leo singing in the shower with Chase on the bed. Leo’s phone wakes up the groggy otter and we’re met with a Choice…

And that’s where we’ll cut it for here. This part was EXTREMELY emotionally taxing (positive) so I wanted it to be a bit shorter, and this next part needed to be cut in half for the Spoiler Free version. Feel free to choose either option and read until the next choice (this screen):

Sidenote: I love this visual bug when fast forwarding to this screen LMAO.

For next Week, Spoiler will be in one post and you can read as normal, but Spoiler Free will be separated into two separate posts. I would recommend waiting until the end of the Route to read the ‘other’ side, but this changes will reconvene after the choice that leads to the next day.

Thank you again everyone, and especially listen to me rant about Leo Alvarez for forever ~

#zombie book club #furry visual novel book club #echo vn #echovn #echo project #echoproject #echo visual novel #echovisualnovel

[visualnovelzombie]

Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Next Route Poll

Now that Silent Echoes has wrapped up it's time to get back to the Book Club ~ Today we'll vote on what route to do next, and in a week from now I'll assign the reading. Thanks for putting up with the hiatus everyone <3

#furry visual novel book club #zombie book club #echo vn

[visualnovelzombie]

Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 18 Spoilers

Hi everyone, here is the SPOILER discussion post for “Echo - TJ’s Saturday”

Links: Previous - Next - Original - Spoiler Free Version

Feel free to respond in reblogs/replies/or asks :D

The day opens with the group arriving at Lake Emma. Chase is having some serious self-reflective thoughts about Carl, about how suddenly, he’s upset with how Carl treats himself and acts, saying Carl causes everything himself. Carl and Jenna ride in the truckbed, Chase darkly thinking what might happen to them if there was an accident… Chase is also sure to sit between Julian and Tj on the way over. Chase’s thoughts are distorted and dark the whole time…

The group walk towards the boulder, Tj taking Chase’s paw on the way.

 Chase feeds into the negative world view with his thoughts, knowing things will ‘never be the same.’ Julian continues to annoy Chase with is very presence… but the otter’s grip on Tj calms him down. Chase continues to neg Carl while they look for the last spot. Chase points out the sand he unearthed the night before, calling into question the ‘legitimacy’ of the final part he changed. The group find the lunchbox and begin to open it.

The group read the altered note

Chase changed the note to implicate Flynn had set up the scavenger hunt. In the fallout, he comforts Tj, pulling him into an… embrace. Julian asks what’s wrong, Chase putting more blame on Flynn, until he’s interrupted by Tj.

Jenna and Carl defend Flynn, saying while he’s a jerk this is too convoluted for him to try and pull. Chase turns, blaming Carl for working with the gila. Jenna tries weakly to defend Carl, but Chase continues. Carl starts to hyperventilate from the attack, Chase bemoaning the ram’s anxiety… with a little comment from our recurring entity.

(GET HIS ASS SAM)

Tj rushes past Chase and Jenna, physically attacking Carl with swipes of his claws. Carl dodges backwards into the rocks, tripping and breaking his ankle from his hoof being lodged at a weird angle. Chase holds Tj back as the lynx continues his swipes… going limp in Chase’s arms. Chase takes Tj away from the scene as Jenna and Julian call an ambulance.

The two walk back to the motel, Tj crying to himself along the way. Tj blames himself for Carl breaking his leg, but Chase assures him it’s only fair after what Carl ‘pulled’. The two talk about what happened as Chase drapes himself over the lynx.

Sam insinuates what’s happening to Tj… is happening to Chase… This also shines a light on a few things.

1. Sam doesn’t know what’s happening. Even though he’s an Echo, he still doesn’t have the answer.

2. (this is incidental and backwards MOST LIKELY, but there are scraps of it set up by Howly in the intro of TSR) Sam’s guilt isolates and entraps him. Despite how fucked up the town is, how there are insane amount of supernatural stuff, he think’s it’s all his fault. It stems from him, and his guilt. It spreads and corrupts, and he’s isolated and alone (like a young queer man in the desert).

Chase continues to blame Flynn and Carl, saying that Tj did nothing wrong despite how bad it got. The two arrive at the motel and rest. Jenna texts Chase, telling him that Carl is saying it was only an accident, and that she’s staying with some friends in Payton, suggesting Chase and Tj leave early. Chase is happy she’s leaving early. Tj want’s to see Carl, not wanting to leave things like they are.

Time and time again, waves of emotions and scattered thoughts hit Chase, changing his demeanor and line of thinking.

Chase says he wants to spend the rest of the weekend with Tj, ignoring everyone and everything else. Tj brings up Chase’s project, the otter saying he doesn’t mind if he fails.

Chase reflects about his plan going so well, even if he didn’t want to go THAT far, but is happy with the result anyways. Chase still isn’t sure who planted the notes, and still assumes that it’s Flynn and Carl… Just then, Flynn arrives to the motel room, and the otter goes to intercept him while Tj stays inside the room. The two talk, Flynn upset the group were down to the lake. Chase thinks to himself, wanting to egg him on, push it further than it should…

What fun foreshadowing...

Chase tries to get Flynn to admit to planting the notes, but Flynn doesn’t seem to know anything about it. Flynn tries to get to the door to talk to Tj more, but Chase grabs him, slamming him back towards the truck. Flynn tries it again, Chase grappling him. They start to fight, the gila sending a punch at Chase who tackles him to the ground. Chase ends up on top of him. Samuel call’s Flynn ‘weak’, and Chase repeats it aloud to Flynn. 

Flynn is afraid and hurt, lying there as Chase gets up. The gila gets in his truck and leaves, Chase returning to the motel. Tj said he got a text from Julian, and wants to talk to the deer before leaving. Chase begrudgingly agrees, while Tj is grateful for Chase being there for him.

Time passes, and Julian picks the two up, heading towards Payton. On the way the group decide what to do. Julian discuss going to the movies, and Chase suggests the family plex

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Weird Theory Time:

Chase is able to ‘see’ or remember other timelines. The group didn’t go to the mall or Payton in this timeline, and Chase knows the area is open as a fact, something that Julian, someone who lives in Payton, does not know. This is corroborated on Flynn’s route a few times with a couple more examples, and showcasing how ‘Socketman’ works. Mirror-Man/The Entity also says that what’s been happening has been happening for aeons, implying some sort of time dilation/looping effect in the town/it’s sphere of influence.

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Despite not going to Payton in this route, Chase knows it’s open, and insists on going. Chase continues to become more and more angry at completely innocuous things Julian does, annoyed the deer is even spending time with Tj and him, despite driving to the place with them. Chase wastes his money, trying to get the group to leave the arcade as Julian helps Tj play…

Chase says he has a headache, and the group return to the motel instead of watching a movie. Tj is tired on the way over, and Chase offers him his shoulder to rest on.

Chase falls asleep too, only waking when Julian pulls off the road to help Janice, whose gotten a flat tire. Julian helps her change the tire while Tj and Chase wait nearby. Janice brings up how Flynn had told her about Chase’s project, and offers to tell Chase ghost stories she has about the town. Chase is indignant, wanting to do a more fact-based story on the town. He relents after Tj’s encouragement.

Janice recalls a story her grandfather, Andy Adler, had told her about an event that happened in the 1940s. He was accosted with his wife in the forest by an entity jumping from tree to tree, chasing them with a mechanical voice… Janice then recalls Brian’s story about a UFO, Chase ignoring it completely. She goes on another story, from a podcast.

Chase asks Janice if anything has happened to her, and she goes quiet… Chase wants to get footage of the forest as Julian finishes up, and asks Tj to go along with him. As the two enter, Chase lightly teases him, the lynx blushing. Chase offers him his paw, and after a bit of coercing, Tj takes it. The two walk paw-in-paw through the forest together. Chase tells Tj about the fox he saw hanging, and how the things people see in town aren’t real. The lynx is scared but Chase reassures him, saying he’s there for him.

Tj asks Chase what’s been going on, saying he himself hasn’t been feeling well… In complete silence .

"It lasts a moment."

"Our lips meet, mine on his for the first time."

"It's a moment of pure bliss, and I close my eyes to show the lynx just how passionate I am about it."

"I feel his lips freeze up against mine, then suddenly they're gone."

"I open my eyes in time to see TJ stumbling backwards."

"One paw flies up to his mouth as the other stretches out behind himself, as if worried he's going to run into the trees."

"I guess I surprised him."

"I smile and follow the cat, reaching out my paws."

Tj is apprehensive and confused, Chase not understanding why. Tj backs away. Chase grips his arm, explaining to him the visual novel romance the two have been on for the past week. Chase continues on, unsure what’s going on…

Chase asks if Tj’s been leading him on the whole weak, and pulls himself closer. Tj strikes Chase and runs away. Chase waits in the forest for anything to happen… Time passes and the sun has set. Chase begins to pack the camera, and notices a shape near him. Something in the outline of a person, breathing. Chase follows it, the ‘painting’ like thing blending through objects. Sam tells him not to pursue it, that it’s distorted and false, ‘just like I was’.  Sam tell him it’s evil, and Chase runs out of the forest in fear. The sound of static loops in the background as the new entity runs after Chase.

The static breaks as Chase breaks from the forest, now back on the road. The cars are gone and Chase walks back to the motel by himself. Chase arrives back at the room, hoping to see Tj… only for the room to be dark and vacant. He realizes he left the camera in the forest… but doesn’t care. Nothing matters to Chase because Tj’s left him too. Chase falls asleep crying on the bed.

Chase has a night terror, but chooses to open his eyes, no longer caring what befalls him. An ambient track plays called ‘Static Statues’, a foreboding and ominous loop. Chase hears footsteps at the foot of his bed. It’s a a fox. He hangs himself in the motel room closet, Chase unable to look away. Chase ‘wakes up’, sitting up in bed, able to move. The fox doesn’t disappear, Chase not in an actual night terror. The body fades as his eyes stare into Chase’s. Chase begins to freak out, only calming when Sam tells him it was something that ‘was’ just like he was.

A banging sounds clangs from the bathroom and Chase rushes to see what it is. 

Chase opens the door, and despite hearing breathing, there’s nothing visible to the eye. Drag beings to play as the unknown entity tells Chase to close the door. Chase knows it’s not Sam, that ‘he’s hiding’ and ‘afraid’ of the new thing talking to him.

Chase doesn’t close the door all the way, wanting to look at the entity through the mirror. He sees the same version of him from the diner, distorted and wrong.  He stares at it for a long time before asking what’s happening. 

The entity tells Chase that him returning with his secret almost ‘started it’, that the town might survive if everyone finds out, and that everyone is about to find out. Chase asks the thing if it’s Sydney. It responds by shaking violently.. Chase feels like the thing he’s talking to is ‘old, monolithic, and ancient.’ The thing, Mirror-Man as dubbed by the fan community, tells Chase that Flynn is going to tell everyone now after Chase attacked him. It tells Chase to keep his secret he needs to…

It says the whole Moore family is made up of liars. Chase is apprehensive, unsure if he can do it. He asks the entity who he is, saying that while it IS Sydney, it is MORE than Sydney… Chase asks it why it’s helping him, and the thing tells him the town needs secrets. Chase touches his face, feeling scars instead of his fur and freaks out, turning on the light and leaving the bathroom. It’s light outside, signaling he’s been in there for hours. Chase falls asleep…

Leo knocks on the door, waking him up after sometime. Leo apologies, saying he was feeling down after Chase didn’t talk to him, and ignored the otter. Leo asks Chase to come back just him during the summer… and Chase agrees. When Leo leaves, Chase remarks how hard it was to keep that conversation going the way it was, only playing into what Leo wanted to hear.

Chase goes back inside and sleeps, hearing whispers from the bathroom again as a dream sequence plays.

It’s the day at the lake Sydney died. Chase was bored hanging out with Leo and Jenna, and decided to swim back towards Tj and Sydney, wanting to surprise them. Chase finds Sydney sitting on top of Tj’s back, the lynx face down in the water. Sydney’s face is emotionless. 

Chase swims through the water and tackles Sydney off of Tj. Chase thinks that Sydney is upset ONLY because of getting caught, and asks him why he did it. Chase punches Sydney and hits his throat. Chase tackles Sydney into the water, holding his head underneath. Chase lets him up after a few seconds, Sydney responding by saying he’s going to tell Leo that Chase tried to kill him. Chase snaps, thinking that Sydney was going to try and kill Tj, and now afraid he’ll be branded the murderer instead. Chase remarks that Sydney is weak now, especially in the water. Time passes with a set of ellipses, and Chase is back at the river with Leo… trembling alone below the waves.

Time passes again, a phone call from Julian wakes up Chase. Julian says something strange happened after Tj spent the night at Julian’s palace, due to what Chase did. He had bought Tj a ticket back to his college and while they were waiting for the bus, Flynn arrived and Tj went with him somewhere. Julian is afraid because Tj isn’t answering texts, and that he missed his bus. Julian doesn’t want to involve Chase, but doesn’t have anyone else's number to contact.

Chase hops in his car, Mirror-Man sitting in the back seat, visible through the rear-view mirror.

Chase drives to the lake, knowing exactly where Flynn and Tj are. Chase considers leaving, but knows his life will be over if he doesn’t stop what’s happening… like he’s a set of train tracks that can’t stop. That he’s been on this path since he decided he wanted to protect Tj.

He finds Flynn and Tj near the shallows, Tj looking disheveled. It’s then Chase decides this is what he WANTS to do. Flynn and Chase argue, Chase bringing up the scavenger hunt at the behest of Mirror Man. Chase pulls ‘Flynn’s Note’ from his pocket, the one he forged himself… Instead showing him the real the note that was in the lunchbox. 

Mirror-Man has left Chase, no longer driving his emotions or strength. The group stand there, aghast at the reveal. Flynn tackles Chase to the ground, the otter unable to fight back without his supernatural strength or confidence. Mirror-Man watches as Flynn hits Chase over and over again. Sam says that they’re all puppets. Right before Chase passes out, Tj speaks up.

Tj lies, saying he’s the one who killed Sydney. Saying he pushed him and that it was an accident. Mirror-Man is back now, telling Chase that Flynn is going to kill ‘Toby’. Chase crushes the back of Flynn’s skull with a rock (RUDE... Sam is right there). Flynn tries to tackle Chase, but he stays standing… and the otter brings the two of them to the water. Flynn scratches at Chase, but he doesn’t let go.

Chase pushes the two of them further into the depths of the lake. 

The song, ‘Sunrise Without You’, begins to play. Flynn is desperate, pleading with is eyes and doing everything he can to get free. Chase holds him, closing his eyes and himself off to continue drowning Flynn. Flynn finally learns the truth, paying with is life in the process.

Chase surfaces and sees the distorted visage of Mirror-Man in his reflection on the water. 

Chase comforts Tj, saying that Flynn won’t hurt him anymore. Tj sobs, asking Chase why he did it. The sounds of waves stops.

Chase says that they can lie, that they can say Flynn tried to kill them… that the presence that left when Flynn found out is back now. Sam that they’re manipulated… that we keep moving in circles. The two drive to the police station… Tj asking Chase to take him back to college, already ‘forgetting’

Chase hopes he can forgot too as the they drive off into the sunset…

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So that was Tj’s route. We learned that Chase WAS the one to kill Sydney, and in an attempt to keep his secret, killed Flynn in desperation, egged on by a new malicious entity. There’s a LOT going on, with Chase thinking he’s ‘earned’ Tj’s love (the meta commentary of the game being a VN coming around), the depths of Chase’s psychosis and fear as something that IMO, can be described as some sort of Eldritch Entity erodes his mind and actions. How Leo is more docile and less abrasive. How Chase breaks Tj again, the lynx resigning himself to stay with Chase...

I do want to cover one ‘plot’ setup that I think I finally understand after this re-read, and that is, what physically happened on this route, and it’s mechanics.

I think it is safe to say, that Tj has an Echo attached to him, like how Chase has Samuel. I think it’s even likely the entity is an Echo of Sydney. The Echo set up the Scavenger Hunt at some point in the past (that’s why it knows what Chase did, but falls in line with doing so AFTER Chase sees the hanging fox). He set up the notes and kept them secure or hidden, possibly influencing Tj to take them with him, which is why they are all old and worn. However, taking Tj’s body in a way similar to how Chase is controlled at times, this Echo piloted Tj to plant the scavenger hunt pieces upon returning to town. That’s why Tj knows WHERE they are, but not what’s in them. It’s why Tj acts so out of character this route, being consumed or overshadowed by it at times.

Based on the description we get from Janice, and how Mirror-Man is described, combined with the meta-type commentary, I also think it’s fair to speculate that the horror of the game is Cosmic In Nature (ie Cthulu/Edlritch genres.) Something old, ancient, and powerful sleeps underneath, that seems to influence the towns people, causing memory gaps, psychosis, and infecting people with entities that push and pull characters in different directions for some goal... because this town ‘needs’ secrets.

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Epilogue:

Five years have gone by as an unknown narrator showcases a scene between a bear named Devon, and a coyote named Cameron driving through Echo. The two arrive at the lake, Devon taking out a few camera bags. The two embrace in a kiss and walk paw-in-paw to the shoreline. Cameron asks why they’re at the lake, Devon responding that someone died in 2015. Cameron asks if it was during the hysteria, but Devon says that happened in 2017…

Devon gets some shots of the lake before heading back, Cameron turning around to head back as well, before seeing Flynn splayed out on the lake in the shallows, starring upwards… with chunks of his face missing. 

The two look back and there’s nothing there. They head back to the car as credits play, images showcasing a background from Arches being shown the whole time.

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The epilogue teases Arches, a visual novel set in Echo during 2020. It’s complete now, and you can see all of Dev and Cam’s story here.

For the purpose of this discussion, I’ll talk about what we learn. Flynn did in fact die at the lake, and that the Hysteria we saw in Leo and Carl’s route, was delayed till 2017... all of it contained within Chase. His secret was learned by Flynn afterall...even though he has a new one with Tj now.

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So that was our third route. I’ll be taking next week off, but be on the lookout for a poll coming today, and it’s results next Sunday, that will determine our next route. Thanks everyone for coming along on this journey through Echo with me ~

#zombie book club #furry visual novel book club #echo vn #echovn #echo project #echoproject #echo visual novel #echovisualnovel

[visualnovelzombie]

Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 2 SPOILER DISCUSSIONS

Hi everyone, here is the SPOILER discussion post for “Echo - Sunday”

Links: Previous - Next - Original - Spoiler Free Version

Feel free to respond in reblogs/replies/or asks :D

We open with our group headed to the nearby town of Payton where they stop at a vista overlooking the town. Chase films some footage for his project while giving a bit of exposition and lore for our setting, the track “Mitt” begins to play; this game's inquisitive song. We learn about a Mass Hysteria that happened in 1877 that led to the boom town’s eventual decline.

Fans and Players of TSR know this event ends up occurring in 1915 instead of the stated year. My best idea about this discrepancy is that this line was definitely written before plans of prequel were even thought about and the year given just missed in the anniversary update. Maybe it’s a meta acknowledgement and anything seen in TSR doesn’t lead to Echo itself??? (Probably not lol)

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Less Concrete Analysis/Personal Head-cannons that Aren’t Important:

Carl plays a the prank on Chase, which is a fun quirk to give the shy ram.

And Chase’s response/wording is very telling...

Carl/Chase shipping aside, this is one of the acts that cements Carl as Chase’s ‘Magician’ Arcana of Archetypes and I really enjoy the funny bro moment and crush Chase has...

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The group arrive at Southwest Adventures, the local amusement park, and plan their day.

Something not brought up again, although it’s definitely very interesting, is Tj’s motor tick. I wonder if it was just forgotten in the absolute fucking chaos of TJ’s route or was meant as a one off character trait.

They decide to ride the park’s largest roller coaster first and end up waiting in a long line. We get some internal exposition from Chase about the otter needing water, and how living in Echo, he’s unable to do that.

Question: What significance can we get from Chase’s statement?

Answer: This world building does two important things. It establishes Chase as an outsider to even his hometown, and how he can’t truly fit in here (which is very easily reflected in the narrative) and the second thing is to serve as a metaphor for queerness. It was something I missed the first time, still under the impression this was a typical gay UwU romance game with maybe some ghosts later on. It doubles with Chase not fitting into the setting and contrasts with Leo and Flynn being relatively fine in the setting despite both being out gay men, as the two are desert species. It’s a VERY interesting form of writing and world building that is unique to furry stories, and Echo is one of the strongest examples I’ve seen utilize this kind of metaphor. You can argue that Jenna being a type of desert fox but hating the town contrasts the initial theory, but it definitely fits into the second, as she (presumably, as we haven’t seen evidence otherwise) is not queer. This also leads into Tj’s general uncomfortable-ness with himself and sexuality in general. The poor guy is a lynx trapped in a dry desert, at least Chase can find solace in a pool (and others he’s willing to express himself to).

Right before boarding the train, Chase gives the extremely nervous Tj a way out of the ride, but the lynx decides to ride despite his trepidation, resulting in Chase being injured from Tj’s claws during the ride.

Spoiler Note: Chase gives Tj an easy way out of something and ends up with slashes along his arms for it… But on top of the dark foreshadowing, Chase constantly babies Tj too. Tj IS his soft little UwU twink, like he is for the audience.

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Less Concrete Analysis/Personal Head-cannons that Aren’t Important:

This is also a crack theory/headcanon and almost certainly not planned from the onset, but I like to think Chase developed a crush on Tj despite the weird ‘Jesus Stuff’ takes from Chase and preferring bigger boys, cause Samuel kept telling him “PLEASE talk to the Christian Cat Boy, I need the comradely”

also...

PEE MENTION COUNTER: 1

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The Track Intimate begins to play as the two finish composing themselves in the restroom, the soft and charming tones of the song are calming and extrude a sense of kinship and serenity. Carl ends up becoming sick from the ride and an early snack, so he, Chase and Tj decide to skip out on rides with the others and the group breaks into two parties.

Spoiler Note: The groundwork for Chase not being in the motel room is now full on text with a pattern for it happening being developed for later…

The three end up discussing their moobs… which results in Carl more or less turning to the camera and explaining to the audience what archetypes the characters fall under in case you didn’t get the memo (albeit for anime-girl nonsense)

QUESTION: Establishing character tropes is a time tested and nearly universal form of information convenience for media. Is there anything that can be gained from such a clear example of expressing those tropes to the audience?

ANSWER: It’s because the tropes are going to be so inverted you’re going to puke your guts out. Howly sets up the beginning as nearly a painfully cliche opening just to turn it on its head so fast it breaks everyone’s neck. Also Cheerleader Chase as the preppy one everyone likes….

We come to our second choice of the game, whose shoulder to sleep on. Did you choose the Soft Twink or Weed Chub?

Carl - Chase snuggles up to the Ram and Carl responds by putting his arm behind Chase, the otter enjoying the act of closeness.

Tj - Chase leans on Tj, commenting on how it’s easy to get the Lynx to help out. Chase falls asleep commenting on the warmth and softness Tj has.

Spoiler Note: The foreshadowing is really laid on thick here…

Chase falls asleep and a dream sequence plays out, while the track “Creep” begins playing, an ominous synthetic piece that evokes tension and unease. Chase dreams of suffocating while some entity with unnatural footsteps follows him. Chase nearly repeats the opening two lines of the novel. The entity rushes Chase after hearing him speak where we get the line, “You’re only moving in circles.” repeated again. The lines and unique font from the opening are repeated verbatim

Not only is this an injection of horror to break up the trope-y romance, but a flag to the connection that Samuel and Chase share.

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Less Concrete Analysis/Personal Head-cannons that Aren’t Important:

Samuel and Chase are deeply and nearly cosmically intertwined with murder cavern section of the mines. This along with events from tomorrow, are the first inclining of being able to witness other and various timelines, and I believe when Chase is having a night terror, there exists the possibility for him to see other timelines/world-lines/events that him, Sydney, Mr. ‘Chip’ Bronson, or Samuel (or even Jack) have witnessed. The cycle of trauma passes along, over and over again, and this is our first wake-up call to it.

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Chase wakes from the nightmare, gasping for air. Carl and Tj’s sprites are both happy, a clear contrast to what the player and Chase just witnessed. Chase checks his phone and texts Leo for the groups to rejoin and grab lunch together. At this time (and any time the phone is available), if you use the mouse to click on the center ‘home button’ through the game’s UIyou can exit the messaging app and access Chase’s homescreen. The only apps clickable are the messaging app that returns the player to the conversation… and a fun easter egg app called “Predater” which features the visage of a certain stinky-yote sheriff… It is definitely a fun and non-spoiler easter egg filled activity to click around the app.

(My Favorite One!... also if this is Brian I would be dead within two hours of opening the app <3)

And the one that works the best as a gag AND story significance/theming...

The group gathers for lunch only for Jenna and Leo to be absent. The two are playing carnival games together and Chase goes to join them. The two are carrying a horde of stuffed animals that Jenna has one. Fun Fact: The stuffed toys are all deliberately mythical creatures, as the ‘people’ of the world are animals. Just a small and very neat bit of world building i wanted to highlight! The two argue about competing in one last game, and Jenna eggs Leo on by involving Chase (as well as the first real confirmation that two share a history)

The track “Carefree” begins to play, an upbeat and cheery song. We get a sprite for the Carny… which is someone’s actual cat that won a contest for the sprite to be added in the anniversary update! Leo calls Chase by an old petname… something Chase isn’t entirely opposed to.

Leo loses a contest of strength to Jenna, where she then reveals to Chase that she had worked at a carnival during a prior summer as well as the game being more precise and technique than only about pure brawn. Jenna kisses Chase on the cheek, causing Leo to fret a bit before storming off. Jenna then asks Chase a VERY important question.

I am going to cover both options for both the following scene, and during the route itself so choose whichever one you’re more comfortable with! I would recommend to choose the one you haven’t already done, only to unlock all music tracks as the ending credits are different depending on the choice ~

I’m Gay - Chase laments about explaining his sexuality to people and chooses to avoid the topic by repeating what Jenna believes.

No I’m Bi - Chase admits he’s bisexual and Jenna is clearly interested in this information…

No matter which decision the player makes, Chase is still Bisexual. Admitting his sexuality opens up a romance option during Jenna’s route.

Question: What does the player’s choice not having an effect on Chase’s sexuality convey? Why is that important, and why is it important that Chase remains bisexual then?

Answer: This is the game hinting that we’re not playing a blank slate, that Chase Hunter IS a character, and not a vessel for the player. Just for Samuel. This informs the player that not every action Chase makes is fully up to them (EXTREMELY important for Flynn and Tj’s route). Chase remaining bisexual is important for the story because it still solidifies him as the same person with the same struggles outside of the player’s willingness to partake in straight romance, as well as setting Echo with a unique identity and representation around Furry Visual Novels, which are predominantly male dominated, MLM spaces. (Which is a fascinating phenomena I would like to see studied to some degree!)

After time passes off camera, where in which the group have fun together, they return to the motel for the evening. Chase ends up outside, filming for his project and is greeted by Jenna and Leo. Leo reminisce about the history the three share and how it started with the three of them becoming friends after Leo moved to Echo from El Salvador with his family.

We’re met with the order the group joined, as well as the mention of a name we haven’t seen until now., ‘Sydney’.

The three banter on top of desert ambience as Leo makes a bit of physical contact with Chase with his tail.

Jenna and Leo contrast their family life and responsibilities, Leo being tied to his and Jenna desperately wanting to escape hers. Jenna then brings Leo and Chase to confront each other about their history together before returning to the motel room.

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Less Concrete Analysis/Personal Head-cannons that Aren’t Important:

HAHA IM NOT CRYING SHIDDING AND THROWING UP YOU ARE

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Leo opens with an apology to Chase as ‘Intimate’ begins to play. The two argue about their anchor bracelets.

Leo explains they’re not above love, but about friends and families,with Chase clarifying they’re about Echo. We’re treated to our second CG

Chase shares his feelings with Leo about their hometown. We learn Chase’s viewpoint on the symbolism that’s etched into the game’s very textbox… as well as Chase’s feelings towards the aforementioned Sydney.

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Less Concrete Analysis/Personal Head-cannons that Aren’t Important:

Spoiler Note: Oh this isn’t even foreshadowing it’s just telling you what’s fucking happening and what’s going to happen. Also I’m a bit incoherent here because these few lines actually make me cry i just found out…

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Leo changes the subject to how Chase left things between them, learning a fact that turns the dynamic built between the two on their head.

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Huh, what an interesting choice of accessory…

🐺 👽 ...

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Personal Viewpoint Question: Does the nature of the breakup between the two change how you view/viewed Chase?

Answer: This is completely personal and less of a discussion, but I certainly remembered being caught completely off guard from the fact Chase did something so out of the ordinary. I was dead set on Leo being the problematic, mostly likely abusive or toxic (as one does in horror settings) boyfriend, but learning that Chase was the one who did the ‘messed up thing’ was certainly a shock to the system

The two embrace each other before being pulled from the moment.

The two return to the hotel room and the day ends as Chase heads out for the night…

which you can read about here /shitpost but also check it out <3

Another dream sequence begins, mentioning the group at the lake playing together.We see events relating to the fateful day everything changed for the group...

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That ends Sunday for our reading! Thank you to everyone who participated! I love feedback and discussion but just people enjoying the journey and reading these as letsplay is fun too ~

Our Reading for next week after voting is...

Best Boi Carl 🐏 🐏 🐏 🐏 🐏

Reading Assignment Particulars:

On Monday the Route Split happens. To pick Carl’s Route, select this option during the Events of Monday

(I would also recommend saving right before this option by using the rewind feature, as this is the route split for all characters!)

This will takes us to Monday, and as Monday and Tuesday are relatively short days, we will also read all of Tuesday for Carl’s Route! Stop at the following screen:

As a note, if a choice appears that I didn’t discuss, feel free to choose either option as it wont affect the outcome of the route. I’ll be sure to discuss both so you can see what the other option(s) look like! 

Thank you everyone again, and remember this is SPOILER discussion.

Link to SPOILER FREE DISCUSSION HERE

#zombie book club #furry visual novel book club #echo vn #echovn #echo project #echoproject #echo visual novel #echovisualnovel

[visualnovelzombie]

Book Club Reading Assignment for Week 10

Hi Everyone, as I said I was talking a week off this week but would be assigning reading. Leo won the poll in an absolute landslide so we’ll be reading his route next!

x

(Instructions Under the Readmore!)

For next week go back to the route split and select these two choices:

and

This will start Leo’s Route. We’ll be reading Leo’s Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday so until this line or you see the following pop-up.

"What I do know is that I'm kind of disappointed."

There’s a choice we get during this section that is ‘unimportant’ so feel free to choose either option and I’ll be sure to cover both !

///////////////////////

Much like Carl’s Route A and Route B, Leo’s Route contains a choice on Friday that splits the route (albeit only temporarily) into two separate .rpy files despite there being very minimal differences. I’ll be releasing a Fan Patch that addresses this and combines the .rpy files into one so you can skip dialogue and only read the changes (Similar to my Carl Fan Patch)

This wont be necessary to download and the changes are minor enough for me to cover (At least in the spoiler section) as the changes ‘end’ after Saturday . If I remember there is a continuity ‘break’ on Sunday depending on one of the choices that I won’t patch until after we read as group so that people don’t miss it / I’ll be able to point it out.

Due to the how much actually changes and the implications, I’m not sure how I will handle it for the Spoiler-Free version of the Book Club. I don’t want to pigeon-hold people into a decision when it isn’t a clear Good/Bad end. It wont matter for this section of reading but I’ll have an answer/solution and beta-patch (one that doesn’t fix the continuity error) for next week!

#leo alvarez #furry visual novel book club #zombie book club #echo vn #echovn #echo project #echoproject #echo visual novel #echovisualnovel

[visualnovelzombie]

Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 17 Spoilers

Hi everyone, here is the SPOILER discussion post for “Echo - TJ’s Friday”

Links: Previous - Next - Original - Spoiler Free Version

Feel free to respond in reblogs/replies/or asks :D

A short update today, as the finale is about our usual reading length. And I did not want to do a 3k line update again because it takes WAY too much time. 

Chase wakes up around noon, learning that Tj had left on a hike without him, from Jenna whose been working on her homework. Chase brings up not being sure who set up the scavenger hunt to her, but Jenna says if it helps Tj she doesn’t mind doing it either way. Chase goes to grab lunch from the diner, only for Julian to invite himself next to the otter after his shift is over. Chase isn’t sure why Julian is talking to him, when the only times they’ve ever spoken before was because Julian was with Tj at the time.

Julian reveals he was best friends with Tj after Carl and Chase graduated, which relaxes Chase, whose upset with how much he feels like Julian is trying to ‘get with’ Tj. The two have an agreeable conversation until the music quiets as Julian says…

Chase recalls the account of Sydney’s death as When Your Arms Were Around Me begin to play. In August 2003, the gang went to Lake Emma to cool down, a usual occurrence. The group split off to skip rocks, leaving Tj behind at their usual spot. Sometime later, and even though Sydney had went with them, the larger group returns to the spot after hearing yelling, with Tj standing by the shore and Sydney floating face down in the water. Chase goes to grab him as the rest of the group splits off to get help.

Chase conveniently fails to mention the part where Flynn forced him into the water to help... If events did play out like this, it also means Chase sneaked back to the group after drowning Sydney too, which probably helped a LOT for people not blaming him.

Chase recalls in his head that Tj’s explanation doesn’t make sense, that something ‘pulled’ Sydney into the water... Because deep down, even if he’s suppressing it to himself, he knows what really happened. The diner’s theme begins to play again as the story finishes. Chase remembers he needs to finish his project and Julian offers to drive him to locations to film. The two head out to the mine to film. When they arrive, they find Tj sitting in front of the mineshaft opening. The lynx’s eyes are rolled back in his head and he’s unresponsive for a few moments. Chase eventually gets him back to reality and Tj says he was just napping. Tj realizes Julian is there and goes to hug him, Come Over begins playing as the two make contact.

We definitely get evidence that Tj has some supernatural entity involved with him, and I think it’s very easy to read it as an Echo of Sydney, in some sort. We know AN Echo of Sydney is out wandering the town in Flynn’s route, and that AN Echo of him is still around five years later... Maybe in this isolated hysteria incident, it decided to attach itself to Tj, or that AN entity is attaching itself to Tj to ‘feed’ it, and brought him to the mines to facilitate that.

Chase notices that Tj’s broodingness is gone from the day before, and chooses to embrace it, ignoring the situation he found the lynx in.

Chase’s willingness to overlook the supernatural again and again for Tj’s sake is very interesting. How much of his shattered self is going along because something is wrong in general, and how much is Mirror-Man influencing these decisions as well...

(We’ve played Leo’s route so we know but OOF…)

Chase ignores how ridiculous it is that Tj of all people would go on a several hours long hike in the weather by himself… but ignores it because Tj is happier today. Chase asks why Tj didn’t wake him up to go hiking, and Tj responds saying he didn’t want to drag Chase around anymore. Julian offers to go with Tj next time, and Chase responds with jealously, not wanting Tj to be alone with the buck. Tj and Julian discuss the bible study club Tj ran in highschool, Chase being jealous he didn’t get to share that experience with Tj while Julian did. Julian reveals that Tj would always say that he wished Chase would show up, embarrassing the lynx. Chase gets his shots of the mine and the group head out, picking up Carl and Jenna… though Chase is a bit jealous along the way. 

...MMhh, i wonder who else we’ve seen do stuff like that after an encounter with something in a mirror...

Flynn texts something mean to Tj again, Chase getting a glimpse of the message. He decides to to have Leo handle Flynn for Tj…

The group arrive at Sydney’s old home, where is Carl apprehensive about bothering the current resident to go inside, with Tj insistent that they do.

He know’s because he almost certainly planted it the night or two before, which Injy  brings up a bit later. The dark edge to Tj’s voice is back and everyone else is uncomfortable and unsure of the plan as Tj rings the doorbell anyways. Tj is… extremely blunt about what they’re currently there for.

Injy, the Red Panda and current resident, is understandably extremely creeped out by the requests and goes to shut the door. Tj offers to just go in himself, with Injy still being apprehensive. Injy offers to look for it himself if Tj tells him where it is and Tj agrees. Injy returns with an old shoebox, the very item the group was looking for. Chase is incredulous that they’re finding clues somehow still. Injy is sympathetic towards the group but tells them…

The group open the box and read the note, the paper old and identical to the others. It reads:

"I hope that you're all having fun,

"Soon you'll know what Chase has done,

"Figure it out, it's a piece of cake

"If you can't, look by Carl's drawing at the lake.

Carl throws up, and the group return to the motel room while they wait for him to recover. Chase is convinced that Sydney didn’t set up the hunt and that someone ‘has it out for [him]’. Chase is upset and tries to call the scavenger hunt off. Jenna comments that Chase is acting like his OLD self again. Chase then blames Carl and Flynn for setting it up. Tj is sure it isn’t Flynn... because again he is almost certainly the one who set it up... (Along with his ghost boyfriend whose possessing him ~)

I think Chase acting like his old self at times is a very interesting line. Maybe it represents just how he was brash and rude, and Mirror-Man is causing him to be so obsessed AND hide his secret, he’s being brash and rude again. Maybe it’s because Sam is so repressed, a bit of Chase is able to shine through? I think there’s a lot of little stuff to gleam from this line.

Chase sneaks out of the motel room at 3am. Reckoning begins to play as Chase drives towards the lake. He creeps out to the shore at night by himself, the sense of being watched by the lake itself enveloping him. After some … choice words about Carl

A tarantula sits on the rock, staring Chase down, and one twink moment later and it’s gone. Chase digs up the final note, an old lunch box. He destroys the note inside after reading it, the audience unaware of what it says.

More evidence that tarantula’s/spiders are manifestations of guilt and not ACTUALLY there. Would explain why they’re ‘hanging around’ Janice’s house, and why Tj and Chase are the only ones to see them...

Chase leaves a fake note inside the box and takes the scraps of the ripped up note. 

Oh honey... it IS the stars... but also the extreme manifestation of guilt that feeds a cosmic entity that makes faces of spiders in the stars. It’s multiple things <3

Chase returns to the motel, and stands over Tj, watching him sleep…

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That’s all for this week. Next week (assuming I don’t forget again...), we’ll be finishing Tj’s route, so keep playing till your kicked off to the main menu. There’s only one ending this time around...

Till next week everyone ~

#zombie book club #furry visual novel book club #echo vn #echovn #echo project #echoproject #echo visual novel #echovisualnovel

[visualnovelzombie]

Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 14 SPOILERS

Hi everyone, here is the SPOILER discussion post for “Echo - Leo’s Sunday (Part 1)”

Links: Previous - Next - Original - Spoiler Free Version

Feel free to respond in reblogs/replies/or asks :D

This week we start the end to Leo’s Route… lets jump in

Leo calms down considerably, leading Chase to Carl… who was sleeping where he and Chase had woken up in Carl’s route. Banter begins to play as Chase is reunited with another one of his friends. We learn that Carl wouldn’t wake up until Leo touched him, similar to how Carl’s touch woke Chase and Raven up during Carl’s route. Carl describes running around a series of hallways with no exits until he was woken up…

The group head out in one of Carl’s cars. As they start to head out of town through the desert towards Payton, the group stumble on a grizzly scene. Chase’s car is crashed, Duke’s body sprawled along the roadway… with a monster with a hairless body and impossibly long limbs sits in the middle of the street.

A CG titled - Justice...

Leo peels off, flooring the pedal. The monster teleports next to the car and stares at Chase… before disappearing again. The group panic but don’t discuss it much more, the thing apparently not following them. After some time, Leo slows the car down… everyone starting to notice that without turning they’re not headed in the opposite direction on the road, back into town. Leo turns the car around and they try to leave again… only to end up back at Chase’s crashed car.

Huh ... like you’re only moving in circles

Leo brings the car to a stop as the group tries to decide what to do… a scratching noise followed by the back window getting shattered causes Leo to rush back into town. On their way back into town, the creature appears on top of a distant hilltop… before disappearing and appearing next to the car a few seconds later, sending the car crashing off the road.

The car crashes into Lake Emma, sinking below the water. Tj is panicking as Kudzu and Carl escape through the back window. Leo is refusing to leave without Chase, all while the OTTER tells him to leave him be, that he’ll be fine. The water submerges Tj and Chase, the lynx stuck in his seat-belt. Chase is able to undo the seat-belt from the other side and saves Tj from the car, pulling him up and swimming out. Chase surfaces and finds the car far from the shore. Tj mutters incoherently as the two make their way back to safety.

Chase feigns comfort, silencing Tj over his murder of Sydney Bronson.

The terrible experience shocks Tj, realizing what Sydney must have went through when Chase drowned him. Tj isn’t the same for the rest of the route, not speaking to Chase, avoiding contact, and being cold and unresponsive. He fully remembers now, what they did to Sydeny. He doesn’t reveal anything though... either desperate to get out alive... or for his own sake.

Kudzu comes to comfort the two, Leo shoving him out of the way to panic with Chase instead. Chase and Leo both have head injuries... Leo picks up the still catatonic Tj and the group march back to Leo’s house. As they approach the house, Leo is wary of the broken window (which only happens in one timeline!) Interestingly enough Chase doesn’t comment that Brian would did it, which calls into question if it is SUPPOSED to be wishy-washy on what actually happened?

Leo scouts the house alone while the rest of the group stay outside. Tj has ‘snapped’ at this point, becoming silent. A scream rings out from the house and everyone rushes inside to help. Clint is being held at gunpoint by Leo, begging for mercy. Leo is about to shoot him before Kudzu reveals that Clint let Kudzu know where Chase was being held captive at.

Clint offers information on an escape route to get Leo to drop his gun and the wolf eventually complies.

These are mainly here for people who can’t read that think Leo is acting on complete free will and volition here, not completely and utterly possessed by the hysteria. Also these are good examples of it.

Leo is unable to stop intimidating Clint, so Chase pressures the wolf into the hall so Kudzu can get the information from Clint. Chase suggests some food and dry clothes to calm everyone down and Leo agrees. The scene cuts to twenty minutes later with some light heated-banter and the track neutral.

We’re treated to the absolute bare minimum of fan service as the try to collect and calm themselves…. Though Tj is still despondent. Kudzu comes in from the other room and tells the group Clint’s plan: A train has been running on the abandoned lines and the group should jump it to escape the town. The group dress as the dryer finishes and eat a vegetable stir fry (woo Leo remembered Carl) as they discuss the plan.

Kudzu and Chase both try to calm Leo down. the wolf acting more and more violent. The tensions rise and Carl tries to calm the situation, Leo shutting him down with a food comment… Argument begins to play. Leo goes to ‘check in’ on Clint, with Kudzu and Chase stopping him. Leo punches the raccoon, sending him tumbling and leaving him with a bloody nose. Leo threatens Chase with a gun to get away from Kudzu, the wolf then kicks the raccoon out of his house. Leo finds his room empty, Clint escaping through the window.

Leo’s anger turns on a dime, immediately becoming doting and… possessive of Chase. Drag begins to play.

Chase complies with Leo’s insane request and actions, terrified of the wolf whose completely unhinged and out of his mind at this point.

Leo rocks the two of them back and forth, cradling Chase in his arms. Carl stares in horror from the door-frame. 

Leo’s guilt and trauma from losing Sydney that day still rings out... suffocating his friends.

The passing of a nearby train causes Leo to stop and go check on it. Chase decides to check in on Kudzu at his trailer, Carl (whose deathly afraid of Leo at this point) begs him to stay… Chase stumbles into a tree that shouldn’t exist between Leo and Kudzu’s house, and right before he can orientate himself he hears a voice, causing him to scramble and eventually fall on the floor. Kudzu, who was out watching the train, helps the otter up and reveals that he had seen Jenna outside. The pair are unable to look for her in the unnaturally dark night, Kudzu running to get some flashlights.

After a few moments they spot Jenna, who shoulder-tackles Kudzu to the ground. Chase is able to snap her out of it, but Kudzu responds before noticing and pins Jenna to the ground. After a bit of conversation the group head into Kudzu’s trailer for shelter. They explain the situation to Jenna.

Even Jenna knows that if Leo is truly acting the way the pair are saying, that something is deeply wrong with him.

Jenna reveals that Tj had woken up a few days ago in an altered state, running to the lake and repeating Chase’s name over and over again… unresponsive. Drag plays

The first time the game is really telling the player that something is off with Sydney and Chase... Sam even confirming it.

Sam speaks as Hysteria drones in the background… Chase says he has no idea what’s going on.The voice calls Chase a liar. Chase’s head spins as Jenna continues the story, Tj becoming violent and more unresponsive in it.

Sam:

“The water changed that day and for the first time you knew what water felt like to everyone else… suffocating.”

Jenna continues her story, saying she experienced several odd events and doesn’t remember much, like being in a dream. She describes a monster from her childhood that would appear in her closet. Jenna excuses herself to use the restroom, and Kudzu and Chase end up sitting next to each other.

Kudzu reveals that he lost someone to gun violence, and the situation in Echo is bringing back those memories. Chase has to pee… again and doesn’t want to wait for Jenna so he decides to go to the side of Kudzu’s trailer. Just as Chase starts to urinate, Brain rushes in from the darkness, grabbing the otter in both his paws and carrying him off. The bear throws Chase into a nearby trucks and drives off with the otter. Chase pisses himself.

En route to their destination, Chase attempts the door handle only to find it missing. He tries to roll down the window but the hand crank makes enough noise to alert Brian who stops him from trying again. Chase notices that Brian isn’t being horny, and is instead desperate for trying to ‘stop’ whatever is happening.

Brian gives us a minor lore tidbit, corroborated by information from other routes and other games. The Entity is after those that are guilty...

Reckoning begins to play as we learn about Brian’s backstory as the pair make their way up into the mountains. Brian reveals that his mom had left him and his dad when he was only six, his dad telling him that aliens abducted her. He was living in Payton but found a boyfriend in Echo. During one of their hookups he saw a flying saucer in the sky, sensing an evil presence from it…

The ABSOLUTE BARE MINIMUM amount of understanding/sympathy for Brian is given. We know he’s an irremediable monster... but maybe the Entity saw that he could be, and pushed him in that direction... Arches showing us just how much Brian and it are attached...

As they pull up to their destination, we learn that Brian is tortured every night in his dreams by a facsimile of his mother. He blamed his boyfriend, outing him in revenge for bringing the bear to Echo.

“Didn’t stop the dreams, though.”

Brian is desperate to stop his dreams, completely enraptured by Duke’s tales and hellbent on stopping his own torment. He begs for Chase’s help and the otter agrees, too scared to defy the bear.

Brian says that everything IS tied together, the monsters, the aliens, and that he wants to stop it. He sets off into the desert and Chase follows him. Brian leads them into a side mine-shaft and the two enter the town’s mines. They pair walk through the mines for some time, Brian revealing he doesn’t see aliens anymore… just the people he’s killed. The pair come to a narrow tunnel, both needing to move sideways to enter. The room they enter reeks of death and rot.

Sam fully wakes up now, entering the cavern that he killed Jack in... the one with the gold.

Chase begs Brian not to kill him, Sam berating him for not taking action. Sam and Chase talk to each other in Chase’s head… Chase wondering why he’s ‘returned’.

Sam is more ‘real’, not insidious or dark like normal. He says it’s because of the mine, it being the ‘source’ of everything. Sam admits that he’s still a simulation, something being controlled by something else. It’s been with Chase ever since Chase killed Sydney… 

Brian reveals things got bad for him when he started seeing Rachel, Duke’s ex-wfie. She had accidentally died during one of Brian’s sex-for-drugs with the couple. The two had buried her in the very mine shaft Chase finds himself in. Brian buries his victims here… each time he kills one another apparition appearing to torment him. He doesn’t stop because it gets him off too much…

The bear points a gun to the back of Chase’s head, Sam still tormenting Chase with his guilt... to much of a coward to admit it to Brian when it would provide the slimmest of hopes of escape

Just as Brian is about to pull the trigger, Chase calls out to Sam… asking for help. We’re met with a ‘choice’.

The game plays its hand. Not only are most choices meaningless, but they’re not yours. They’re Sam. He’s been making the decisions for Chase, guiding him as the otter shuts himself off.

A creature stands in the doorway… some sort of alien-like being with grey skin and long fingers.It approaches Brian, form flickering and unstable.

Due to the flickering and red-skinned nature of the creature, I am reading it as some sort of version of Socketman. It only comes when Chase calls on Sam, and Sam is apart of Socketman. Sam also isn’t afraid of this particular monster, when we know many are after him...

Brian trips on the flashlight, snuffing it out. A tape-recorder like sound plays as the thing and Brian scream in the darkness. Chase trips and falls into the grave and we’re treated to a vision of Brian kidnapping one of his victims from a club.

Chase gives up, residing himself to his fate, but Sam commands him to get up… through a dialogue option. 

The narration switches to second person… describing ‘the otter’. Sam knows the tunnels, remembers them like the back of his hand from when Yao and Nik instructed him.

He leads Chase in his body out of the tunnels… Just then… a pair of red eyes appear at the end of the tunnel…

...or one of Sam’s demons.

Sam recognizes the shape, it’s ‘the lizard’, just appearing warped… in the shape of Socketman.

Flynn appears, now recognizable. The narration switches back to first person as the heartbeat sound stops. The two leave in Flynn’s truck as Chase is unable to answer what happened. Chase describes the mine as ‘Chaos.’... The otter asks Flynn how he found him. Flynn says he followed the only road up and saw Brian’s truck, and just happened to know about the back entrance. He reveals he’s been at town hall trying to manage the situation, and only came to Leo’s house after looking for everybody. 

The pair arrive at Leo’s house, the wolf telling people not to leave, and they hug out Chase’s return. Just as Kudzu stops his hug, Leo comes from his room, angry and disheveled.

Leo says Chase was with him in his room, that the otter never left, and is lashing out at everyone for saying Chase was missing. Just as the situation becomes heated, Tj, whose been keeping watch, lets the group know another train is coming. The group are planning to jump the train, Flynn and Kudzu going first to help everyone else on.

Leo has completely fallen out of touch with reality, begging Chase to stay with him, and going on and on about the things they ‘just talked about’. Leo demands Chase answer him, the otter telling him to wait till they escape to parse out what’s happening.

Leo wants an answer and wants it NOW… we’re met with a choice.

“We’ll work something out.” -

Chase chooses to avoid the subject, pushing back the issue at hand till later. Leo is unsure of Chases response… but they cant stop now, the train is here. Kudzu and Flynn make it the caboose with ease. Kudzu and Flynn pull up Carl from behind Chase as the group continues to run along the train. Jenna and TJ successfully make it on board as well. Chase makes the jump, landing both feet on the steps of the caboose. Leo reaches for Chase on the caboose…

Chase is pulled backwards, choked on his shirt as he tumbles from the platform, his legs falling under the back wheels in the process, getting dragged for a short distance before coming to an abrupt stop.

All sounds cut as soon as Chase realizes what’s happened to him. Chase’s mind is completely blurred, caught in shock. Kudzu hops down, using his belt as a tourniquet for one of Chase’s stumps, telling Leo to do the same with his. The track ‘Death’ plays, the raccoon slumping over Chase’s body as three gun shots ring out.

Leo makes it to Chase, pushing Kudzu’s body aside with abandon.

We’ll figure something out…

Leo picks Chase up and the scene cuts… 

Chase is sitting at a table with his parents and Leo, the Hunters asking the wolf typical questions of a new boyfriend… the pair playing footsies under the table… The scene cuts again, now in Leo’s bathroom. Leo puts Chase in the bathtub, bandaging his wounds… Chase flashes back again to spending a lazy day with Leo, cuddled on his chest in the afternoon sun… Chase comes to again, now in Leo’s bed with him, bandages bleeding onto the sheets. Chase says he’s cold, limbs shaky. Leo holds him closer to warm him up…

A figure leers at Chase from the room again. Chase flashes back to his first kiss with Leo…

The room is red again, the creature staring at him… Chase feels nothing as the screen fades… The Credits begin to roll as a twisted version of the opening theme, aptly named “Echo Theme Dark” begins to play over distorted and darkened CG’s of Leo… We’re sent back to the main menu…

“It’s over.” -

Chase stands up for himself, ending a cycle keeping him chained to Echo.

Chase realizes that if Leo is going to force the issue, he can’t comply. 

Kudzu steps in to tell the pair to leave and Leo attempts to pull his gun on the raccoon. Chase puts himself between the two, causing Leo to stop. Leo drops the gun, and the group run after the approaching train. They board the train in the same manner as last time, except this time, once he lands on the caboose, Chase looks back for Leo. The wolf hadn’t moved from his spot, now alone and crying. 

Leo choosing to stay behind, to abandon them in their escape… hurts Chase more than anything.

The track, “When Your Arms Were Around Me” begins to play as the group rides off into the horizon. Chase begins to cry…

Sam speaks out-loud now…

The two reach their tipping point together… the hurt and pain Echo brings and thrives off of sending both Chase and Sam over the edge, the two cry for a long time together… Kudzu eventually motions for him. As they leave Echo, the Sam’s dark emotions grow dimmer… but the pain in his heart for Leo becomes greater and greater.

It’s here Kudzu reveals that it was his boyfriend that was murdered in Payton, a mugging gone wrong. Chase and Kudzu embrace before heading into the caboose. Everyone is inside, including Clint who had jumped the train before them. The train arrives in Payton as day breaks. -

The scene cuts to ‘Saturday’, Chase on the phone with his mom on the road into Echo, Kudzu driving. It’s been two years, and with Chase planning on leaving the area for good he wants to say goodbye to Leo one last time. Chase kisses Kudzu on the cheek, the two a couple now, before heading out of the car to Leo’s.

Leo, no longer wearing the anchor bracelet, offers the two a beer and to come inside for a few hours, but they decline. Chase and Leo walk over to the rail-yard, leaving Kudzu in the car. We learn Carl and Leo are really the only people left in town, Carl now going to school in Pueblo. Chase is leaving the area and had quit school after the events of the week. Leo is moving back with his family in Payton, and the train the group had boarded was a timely antique piece headed on the way to Payton for display. 

The two talk about the past two years…

Chase thinks to himself about the mental health struggles he’s been going through… and chooses to say he’s doing fine. Sam chiding him for it.

Chase apologies, admitting fault … Leo reveals how he’s been doing as Epiphany begins to play.

Leo reveals that he’s been broken inside. Nearly non functional, curled up and hurting from losing Chase how he did. From losing his friends, to hurting people, to losing the love of his life. He’s torn up and brutal to himself, worse off than when Chase left to school... broken and alone.

But recently... he’s getting better. He’s working through the hurt, through the self-imposed isolation he’s given himself to atone... to make himself better, for him.

Leo apologies. He admits his faults, he takes responsibility for his actions... and the route of the problem is brought to light again. His desire to protect Chase. to be his anchor, his rock... hurt them both. And while he can’t undo the hurt... he can still love, he can profess his love, and he can be stronger and better going forward.

Leo refuses Chase’s number... he wants to heal and be better on his own. ... and also maybe not relive the thirst texts and temptation he knows Chase will fall to...

The two promise to see each other another day, to find each other in a better place. The two say their goodbyes to each other… 

One last time… one last sunset signalling their goodbyes. The begging in the rail-yard at sunrise... and ending their relationship for good at sunset in the same location. They’ve moved on from each other, from the strength and support they gave each other, for the young-love and safety and freedom of queer love, because the sun has set, and it’s time to move on.

Chases closes the door to the car and credits well… the aptly named Blurry by Lillybug plays as the CG with the two of them at the high-school is displayed to the side… (aptly named because I started fucking ugly crying the first time!)

—----

So that’s Leo’s route. There’s no happy ending for him and Chase… just the consequences of years of neglect and hurt. The two separating one last time, with the uncertain promise to see each other one day, when they’re both better. The voice is still with Chase even… just more hurt and guilt the two both cling too, Chase ashamed and embarrassed for feeling like he sent Leo down such a lonely path. 

It’s probably no secret that Chase/Leo is far and away my favorite ship in the game, and they’re complicated and difficult relationship sure paints that oddly, especially with the context of Leo’s route itself here. I truly believe the apology and hurt the two go through in the fallout of the their actions ‘atones’ them in meta sense from the shit they pulled. Leo’s biggest non-hysterical action being the phone scheme, and him fully and openly apologizing for it here, now when he can think clearly, is indication of his growth from that event. Leo no longer wanting to stay in contact with Chase is both their own comeuppance. 

We know from Word-of-God that Leo even pays for his sins on the bad end, killing himself in the morning once coming to and realizing that he killed Chase the night before. Two-tormented souls, doomed by fate to stay apart all stemming from that day at the lake stemming from the connection we now know Chase has with Sydney and that day… and the sins that to them together.

We know there’s MUCH MUCH MUCH more context with them, context that makes this doomed romance plausible, one that shines a light on the darkest corners of Chase... one that makes them both a better fit together in light... and better together in darkness.

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So I’ll announce it here. Instead of the normal one week break for book club between routes, I’ll be taking a hiatus. I absolutely LOVE doing these, but it takes up an entire day for me and I’ve never once spread it out over multiple days like I said I would... hell these are supposed to come out Saturday because I’m supposed to work on them during the week... I’ll start back up again when I finish Silent Echoes. It only needs three more chapters and I REALLY want to finish my story. It’s been back-burned so long and I want to move on, feel free (in my mind) to work on smaller scale stories and start full production on my followup series... it’s just hard to do both that AND this. It made me go a little insane, devoting my ENTIRE weekend to Echo. I’ll be back with a poll to select the next route, hopefully within a month or two! Thank you everyone for putting up with my delays, and I’m looking forward to finishing this game with all of you once I can.

#zombie book club #furry visual novel book club #echo vn #echovn #echo project #echoproject #echo visual novel #echovisualnovel

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Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 1 SPOILER DISCUSSIONS

Hi everyone, here is the SPOILER discussion post for “Echo - Saturday” (Click HERE for the Spoiler Free Discussion)

Next - Original - Spoiler Free Version  

Let me know if you have any feedback for the format, and be sure to vote in the poll linked at the end of the post for which Route we’ll be doing first! This is for people who have completed ALL of Echo previously!

As we hit Start, he melancholy title theme is cut silent, only to be replaced with a droning hum on a black background. A mysterious narrator opens by saying that we’re ‘returning’ and that just like this town, we’re only going in circles, as the opening ‘Day Card’ drops.

What could this Narrator be referring to? How is the town itself going in a circle?

It is safe to presume that the Narrator is Echo-Samuel Ayers that has bonded with Chase. While there are many possible interpretations, the cleanest and easiest to me, is that Samuel (who I will drop the ‘Echo’ moniker because his ‘ghost’ doesn’t appear in game) is referring to the ‘Player’ as an entity, and that how once again we are returning to see our characters suffer through the timelines etched in stone, and how we can’t stay away from their suffering, despite our attempts to make better choices. This sets the tone and meta-narrative of the Visual Novel as a whole and is the biggest IN PLAIN SIGHT type of spoiler this game gives.

We are then whisked onto a desert highway where the main character, Chase Hunter, has a conversation with is mom.

Is there information can we glean from this quick introduction of our lead character?

My pet answer here is that Chase is the same as his mom, in more ways than one. We see later on how her gossiping causes a lot of problems for Sydney, and how she might not be the most faithful/be promiscuous. Something we see Chase do... We Also learn that Chase is dismissive of his parents opinions/concerns, and that he’s ‘struck out on his own’.

We’re introduced to two of Chase’s friends, Jenna and Tj. The trio drive down the highway and Chase eventually remarks about being “Unbalanced” with just the three of them

Is there anything we can learn about how Chase describes about his friends here?

Chase wants or needs things to be the ‘same’, just like Leo. He wants the comfort and security of how things were, even though he’s been the instrument of change and escape. He’s torn between wanting his old life (before Sam) and also wanting to escape the psychic mind prison he’s found himself stuck in.

A short discussion later and we’re met with the game’s first choice: How the main character feels about the journey.

How impactful do you think a choice so early, with so little information could be? Why would the author put something as potentially impactful as a choice so early with such little ground work?

It doesn’t. It’s a direct commentary about how “we’ll always be back” and “no matter how hard we try, we’re always moving in circles”. I also believe it’s both an ease into normalcy for VN players in general, and masking Chase as a “blank slate protagonist”, as he isn’t sure about how he feels about a very big thing he’s spent all day headed towards for HOURS. A clever masking trick and mechanical tutorial all wrapped into one.

Spoiler Discussion/Observation: It was Chase who contacted Leo about going back during Spring Break, and from there Leo plans the group hangout. This shows Chase was still in contact with Leo and if Leo was truly ONLY planning on getting back with Chase, the wolf would have probably not invited everyone else back. Of course the growing Hysteria probably threw off his intentions as we clearly see later on in the game. But also highlights how he reacts/feels in Tj’s and Carl’s route while not omnipresent.

Following the choice the trio arrive at the hotel and disembark. The first ‘musical’ track begins to play when we get our first character sprite, “Neutral” replacing the ambient highway noises, and we get our first glance at the characters we’ve been with.

Tj Hess and Jenna Begay

The trio settle into the motel room and another character is introduced, Carl Hendricks. 

Our four characters discuss what they’ve been doing since highschool; Carl has dropped out of college that he attended with Chase, Chase is enrolled in a journalism major, Jenna is enrolled in a psychology major with plans set in motion to attend grad school, and Tj is in a sports medicine program at a Christian College.

Through natural dialogue the characters are able to give concise and quick insights to their interests, motives, and character disposition. An ‘exposition dump’ that provides deeper insight than at first glance (That we’ll see later!) Just a short tidbit that stood out to me as excellent writing.

We’re then introduced to two new characters, accompanied by the track, ‘Come Over’, a Flirtatious Synth Jazz piece. Chase’s tail involuntary thumps and his heart skips a beat as the two walk in

Flynn Moore

and Leo Alvarez

The group banter for a while, enjoying their meals. Chase discusses going to Lake Emma with Leo, a local reservoir, in order to complete the Otter’s school project. Leo immediately shuts the idea down, the two glancing at Flynn in the process. Chase feels guilty about the idea, and says he feels like an imposter for not knowing how his friends feel and trying to run the place after being gone for three years at university. The conversation continues, until the music is cut by Chase noticing Leo’s Anchor Bracelet. Chase is startled after Tj notices that he’s staring into space, and the music resumes with the track, ‘Banter’.

What’s happening to Chase here and why would someone need to call him out from his thoughts?

Chase has main character dissociation disorder caused by one slutty slutty old man. The physical affects show the player that the cause is bigger than a psychotic break, and that inner monologue mechanics/situations can tie into the plot line. (see Tj’s route!)

The group carry on into the afternoon and eventually snap a group photo, the game’s first CG

Spoiler Discussion/Observation: I truly believe that this photo/cg is ‘off balance’, not center-framed, because the group is missing Sydney. Without him, everything is thrown off-balance and into dismay... with Chase at the center of the cosmic unraveling.

Spoiler Discussion/Observation : Chase comments on waiting for Jenna to fall asleep before we’re met with a “...” I believe Chase is being set up for doing ~SOMETHING~ or having the capacity to do ~SOMETHING~ at night. We see this during Tj’s route, but I believe this was placed so early and has other places it can occur, as a tool for Howly to have Chase be the crazy little otter man he is more fluidly, even if we never see much more 100% concrete times of him doing this.

The group continues into the night before the three locals return home and the trio retire for the night. Chase has a nightmare where a metal chain is attached to his leg, pulling him down into a lake. Leo is there and ignores Chase’s situation, choosing instead to compares their “bracelets”, saying “everyone gets one.”

What insight does this nightmare give to earlier events? Does this event cause any tone shifts from what was previously established?

The Anchor Bracelet, the symbol of Echo, is what drives Chase to break into his own head/away from Sam for a second. His guilt and sins and worries bind him to this land (metaphysically, physically, AND mentally), and the nightmare manifests this. Leo is conversely shown to be proud of his bondage, literally wearing it on his sleeve. He also comments how “Everyone gets one”, signalling that everyone else has something that binds them to Echo too... something they can’t escape which leads to cycles of trauma they’re soon to experience/experience again and again...

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That concludes the first Book Club for this week! Thanks for reading and I hope to have a fun and hearty discussion with everyone in the replies!

For next week, we are reading all of ‘Sunday’, until the following Day Card:

Be sure not to forget to check out this poll HERE to vote on whose route we’ll start in two week! Thank you again to anyone participating <3

#furry visual novel book club #zombie book club #echo vn

[visualnovelzombie]

Furry Visual Novel Book Club: Echo Week 5

Hi everyone, here is the SPOILER discussion post for “Echo - Carl’s Thursday/Friday/Saturday”  

Links: Previous - Next - Original - Spoiler Free Version

Feel free to respond in reblogs/replies/or asks :D

Thursday:

The next morning starts with Banter playing as Carl and Chase plan their day. Chase is planning on going to the basement while Carl stays upstairs to game. Chase comments that he’s hurt Carl didn’t want to go downstairs with him.

Spoiler Note: A lot of Carl’s route has been the game telling the plot to you through random happenstance. It’s also kind of scary on a metaphysical/cosmic horror kind of level that Chase’s biggest fear is what’s happening to him.

Chase’s nightmares and hallucinations when he was young stopped on their own, and didn’t return until he started working night-shifts at a grocery store in Pueblo 

Spoiler Note: A cursory google-search said sleep paralysis can be triggered by sleep-cycle shifting, and Chase’s being completely unended by his new work scheduele could definitly trigger that. I remember reading this the first time and was wondering if it had any story/thematic significance. I haven’t been able to piece together much from this theory, and maybe it’s just a reflection of something Howly went through, but I think the potential is there. The only thing I can piece together is Micha/Nightshifts... but that definitely wasn’t intended as Jenna’s route was written MUCH later.

Chase starts to unbox the contents but notices items are moved around or missing. He stumbles upon a biography of James Hendricks written by Carl’s mother, Trisha Hendricks. Chase begins to read the contents of the documents as Mitt begins to play the game’s mysterious track. We get exposition about the history of the town and how The Hendricks and Begays have family history in the town of Echo. 

Chase is able to finish his project on time due to Trisha’s work, and brings the items outside to photograph them. A knock from the basement windows startles Chase who hurries inside to chastise Carl over trying to scare him.  Chase returns to the basement to Carl not being down there, and some newspaper being torn up in one of the tubs.

Chase returns to Carl’s room to find the ram asleep. Carl says he didn’t go downstairs and the two shift the conversation to Carl’s interview, with Chase incorrectly stating it’s Friday (A continuity error in the script).

Spoiler Note: This is more of a reach/theory than a true note, but my best guess as to what happened here is that the entity that banged on the window was one of the child ghosts/echoes clamoring for attention to stop James I from destroying more evidence. It doesn’t appear the full concept of ‘Echoes’ were set up in this route, and portions of this route seem to set up that finding out the truth will set the ghosts free (kind of like AHS Season 1 with the Maid). This also ties into the handprints Chase sees in previous nightmare sequence. This doesn’t seem to have any story significance or thematic, and the way ‘ghosts’ / supernatural entities work, MAJORLY change after /throughout this route, but I believe this was in the initial intention.

Chase says Carl needs new clothes for the interview and when Carl resists, Chase states: 

Carl agrees to the outing only to make Chase happy. Chase genuinely wants to help Carl even though the two would both rat her stay and play video games together. 

Spoiler Note: Despite Chase doing the thing Carl asked him not to do... it is shockingly/refreshingly clear that Chase did truly mean well FOR Carl here. It mirrors (b’dum’tss) what we see of Chase in Tj’s route (thinking he’s doing the right thing despite hurting people), as well as show a surprisingly, somewhat less selfish side to Chase (who still wants to go out for the day himself)

The two drive into town as Chase tells Carl about his findings. En route Jenna calls Carl, and she berates the ram.

Side Note: I feel like most people who are insane Anti-Jenna players just read Leo and Carl’s Route and didn’t piece together that she is EXTREMELY possessed/influenced by this point in time NGL

Chase tries to cheer Carl up with some playful banter and asks the most painfully obvious question and gets an extremely clear response. 

Chase ponders this fact for all of about five seconds before going back to making Carl try to change himself.

The two arrive at the mall in an off-brand Spencers as the track, ‘Payton’ begins to play; an upbeat electronic tune. The two try to decide on what to get Carl to wear as Chase notices Carl sink to unease and anxiety.

The pair bump into an acquaintance from highschool, Raven. A foreign husky whose moved back to Echo recently. 

Spoiler Note: I fucking love Raven and his terrible haircut, bubbly personality, and insane faggy energy. It’s a REAL shame him being replaced by Jeremy would be 1000% times better. Here’s hoping any rewrites help the poor boy

Raven offers some clothing suggestions and says he has to return to work, offering to meet back up with the boys after his shift. The pair get clothes for the Ram and meet up with Raven after grabbing some food. Raven jokes with the group as their make their way from the mall, showing a closeness to at least Carl.

Raven asks Chase if he’s still dating Leo. The husky says he wants to date an otter, and Chase thinks to himself racist speciest undertones, his annoyance not being unnoticed by Raven who goes in for a biting joke… The husky demands 10 minute long tornado-sloppy to rival the previous queen of england 

Side Note: CALLED OUT BY HOWLY AND TORN TO SHREDS

Carl runs off to the restroom and Raven asks to hangout with Chase more (trying to get the blowie still). Chase comments the two aren’t very close but agrees to meeting up again.

Side Note: Having Raven be a closer friend to Chase or Chase wanting to hang out more would make a lot of the reason for Raven just being somewhat present for like two days and not doting on Carl in his party mansion for the next few days make a LOT more sense too...

Sidenote: I have no idea what this world-building implies and it’s never brought up again! (it’s even forgotten in TSR it feels like)

Raven offers to help Chase during the next two days and Carl reluctantly agrees to the husky’s help.

As Carl and Chase part ways, Intimate kicks in. Chase again states that he wants to help Carl, and the track playing helps reinforce the genuineness from Chase during the two’s conversation.

Carl kisses Chase on the cheek as the two get into the car.

Carl reveals he’s high. Chase comments that he hopes Carl’s sadness is only a phase, and that the interview will the ram… 

Sidenote: I have no idea why being kissed doesn’t make Chase think much of anything...

Thursday Nightmare:

A nightmare sequence starts (even referenced in the code!) as Creep begins to play. Chase awakens unable to move, suffering symptoms of sleep paralysis.

He’s in Carl’s room, now stained red. A cheezy laugh plays, ‘chuckle.ogg’ (this is a surprise tool that will help us MUCH later!) as Chase is startled scared in the nightmare. Chase realizes its signs of sleep paralysis and wills his eyes closes. The presence leaves and Chase is able to move and breath again… but the room is still distorted.Chase hears the word ‘DIE’ shouted as the beat of heavy drums begin to play. The otter is pulled from the bed and dragged into the basement by an unknown force.

Sidenote: Sleep Paralysis/Sleep Apnea symptoms being so tied to possession and nightmare and the Entity’s power is EXTREMELY fascinating to me. The way it interweaves with Micha being a bat and Chase a night-owl and the towns vibes in general. There’s more going on here we see on the surface and I just wanted to point it out. Maybe you should check out how I’m expressing that in Silent Echoes

TSR Light Spoiler: Sam this needs to stop happening to you...

Chase wakes from the nightmare, suffering symptoms of waking from sleep paralysis again. Chase makes sure he’s awake and listens to the sounds of Carl snoring to calm down.

Friday:

The day opens on Raven and Chase in the crawlspace going through artifacts for Chase’s project. Chase is upset Carl isn’t helping and figures its because the Ram is moving contents of the tubs. Leo texts Chase for the two to meet for lunch at the diner at 4pm.

Chase arrives at the diner, only to find it empty aside from Leo, and comments on how odd that is. Leo tells Chase he’s sad the two didn’t get to talk much this week. Leo is surprised Chase is able to engage so easily. Chase admits things are their faults, and the blame ISN’T on Leo, causing the Wolf to tear up. (Hi, you WILL see my Chase/Leo bias here. It’s not my fault their conversations are filled with extreme importance and foreshadowed information though!)

Reeling back in from my Chase/Leo shipping… we learn that Jenna was acting out of her violation and not substituting Leo’s anger. 

Loneliness begins to play as Leo unveils his plan to Chase

Chase is hesitant to return to the Lake (as always), but Leo lays down some cold hard facts 

Spoiler Note: This is definitely the least argumentative that Chase has been from investigating the Lake/Talking about what happened. We get very little internal mention of it, but it’s still there. Maybe it’s Leo’s commanding presence

Leo goes through everyone in the group, detailing and revealing how Sydney drowning at the Lake hurt everyone in the group. 

Spoiler Note: This is the first time we’ve gotten information about what happened that day. I’m definitely going to keep track going further and see how many routes we actually learned what even happened to Sydney.

…even revealing his own demons for the first time... as well as Chase’s.

Side Note: Fucking kills me this is what Leo deals with all the time and the reason he’s like that. People not understanding this when he tells it to Chase several times also hurts me in a different way.

Leo wants closure, to heal the wound hurting all of his friends.

Chase agrees to the plan and the two shift to talking about the last three years of their life together ‘Come Over’ starts to play. The two talk for hours and Chase reflects on his feelings

The two depart, the Sunset, Leo’s colors, themes and time of day, silhouetted against him as the two part ways. 

Side Note: I need to write a three long video Essay on Leo, a hour of which will be used to talk about the theme of Sunsets/Sunrises with him. This is his Sunset on this timeline, essentially closing the door on Chase/Leo when it opened with them at Sunrise together... Mirroring how on Leo’s route the two say goodbye at Sunset

Saturday:

Raven and Chase are helping Carl prepare for his interview, giving him a shave and new look for the process.

Chase and Raven both agree Carl looks really good in his new fit, but are both worried about his nervousness from the sudden change. Raven asks one of the most important lore questions in the SERIES… and we’re met with a choice.

Don’t wear it.:

Chase gives some sound advice… to which Carl reacts angrily to and stands his ground, saying he’ll wear the beanie.

Wear it:

Chase admits to liking the beanie, Carl calms down a bit, stooping his fidgeting.

Re-convergence: The choice is ultimately meaninglessness, but provides incite into Carls sensibilities and is a good testing point at this point in the story for the player to see if they have a handle on Carl’s situation and feelings… which will be important later on…

The trio head out for the interview… but Chase insists that Raven stay at the House by himself because they’re going to the lake later. (This is a genuine criticism of this Route for me, but this is complete nonsense. There had to be a better way of resolving this and having Raven available for later)

Carl asks where Raven is and that’s when Chase finally lets the ram know that they’re going to the lake after the interview…

Side Note: PLEASE DEAR GOD someone fix this in a rewrite!

Repetition …. 

Carl is up the idea at the very least. 

The two continue in silence as Carl becomes nervous on the 20 minute drive into Payton. The two arrive at the store, and after a short pep-talk, Carl goes in for the interview. Quiet begins to play. Chase rests his eyes… just as Carl rushes into the alleyway next to the store 

Loneliness kicks in as Chase finds Carl bent over, shaking and throwing up. Chase comments that he hasn’t seen Carl like this since their time together at Pueblo.

Carl laments at his failure

James I Carl then responds in anger towards Chase upset over the development and Chase’s attempts to help.

Spoiler Note: I do enjoy how we see more and more of Carl slip away as the hysteria draws closer

The two sit in silence until Carl apologies and explains the interview went over extremely poorly because of his anxiety. 

Chase remembers the two’s conversation from Wednesday, and how he had done exactly what Carl said he didn’t want to do. The to make their way to the lake… eager to see the next disaster unfold.

Side Note: This is where the game really started to grab me. Learning that things were NOT going to be okay, was shocking for the Visual Novel Format to say the least... especially how this appears to be an ‘endgame’ event (not knowing we’re about to get Silent Hill’d)

The pair arrive at the lake, Chase commenting on how the town has fixed up the area. Flynn comments on Carl’s radical appearance shift, knocking the sour mood out of the way for a few even just a bit…

The group begin to argue as Flynn is angry about the situation he’s been forced into… and starts blaming Tj for the incident again. Argument begins to play. Chase stops the pointless arguing as the music cuts, finally speaking up.

Side Note: Whatever/Whoever usually stops Chase from talking about the Lake is fully off, and Chase is in charge for once.

Chase takes off his shirt and belt then proceeds to wades into the lake. Leo follows behind, taking off his shirt as he prepares to jump in. Chase dives in and when he surfaces, Carl is at the edge of the lake. ‘Melancholia” begins to play, a calming track. Leo and Chase play in the water as Jenna and Tj come to the shoreline. Flynn joins the group at the Lake after some time.

Chase comes to a realization about their trauma…

Chase drifts to the bottom of the lake and relaxes at the floor as the music fades…

Chase feels sleepy and fights against the urge to fall asleep underwater… but is trapped in sleep paralysis at the bottom of the lake, unable to move. “Vanishing Paradise” (the original title of the game) begins to play, a track with moving and serene sounds, as Chase struggles to gain control of himself.

Chase can’t wake himself from the sleep paralysis despite his best efforts at fighting it and his history of being able to rouse himself from it.

Something holds chase down…

Spoiler Note: I do believe this was intented to by Sydney’s ‘ghost’ and not his ‘Echo’ (see above for the split, especially on this route), but I find it SUPER INTERESTING this is like the only time Sydney really goes after Chase... and it’s in the earliest routes. (Maybe Chase’s timeline powers tells him not to try the lake thing again after this...)

The lake distorts in a familiar hue… 

Side Note: Leo, Sunrise, Sunset, Nightmares, and the Hysteria being all the same color is a GREAT choice...

Chase blacks out as he loses oxygen…

Chase awakens on shor, to the horror and dismay of his friends after almost having another friend drown in the lake.  Flynn and Tj begin to break down from the repeated trauma as Anger begins to play.

Flynn throws Tj onto the rocks, followed by Leo tackling the gila off of his feet violently. Carl has an anxiety attack as Chase lies out of breathe unable to take action. Chase takes Carl in his car and the two leave the scene… with only Jenna noticing the two leaving.

Reality distorts as the two return to Carl’s house

Side Note: I love the attention to detail of what the Hysteria BECOMES... which makes the decision to make the first one shown to the audience a pocket dimension in essence...

A female coyote runs into the street, seemingly deranged. Chase notices something is wrong with the town as a whole as the two continue.

Upon arriving back at the mansion, ‘Daze’ begins to play, along with Carl bolting for the basement without a word. Chase and Raven make their way down inot the basement and into the crawlspace after Carl. Chase becomes… more disoriented.

Chase has some sort of seizure as he falls into a hole in the center of the crawlspace… and falls forever 

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End of Saturday: Thanks everybody for sticking around the extra week while I reset my schedule. Thank you all again for sticking with me on this <3

The reading schedule for next week is all of ‘mansion1′ in the code… or up until this line/screen:

NOTE: This is AFTER the ‘Sunday’ card… as you will see, time has become… non-euclidean

Thanks again everyone

Spoiler Free Version:

#zombie book club #furry visual novel book club #echo vn #echovn #echo project #echoproject #echo visual novel #echovisualnovel