Superego

>Quin: There wouldn't happen to still be a door behind you, would there?



It's there. No need to worry.

Cherry looks anxious to go. But...

>Well, door's open. Let's get out of here while we still can.



"Helen? You coming?"
"Yeah, I..."

>Helen: Extend a hand to Louis. He too needs to be able to leave this place.



"Will you come too?"
"What? What are you doing??"



-feh



-i dont need your help
"Helen! We have to go!"

>Helen: You'd stay to help, but... he seems to have vaporized. What would you even do?

> Maybe he needs a little time to himself. It's better to see how you can help those who do want your assistance.

it's my birthday woah!!!

>Helen: You'd stay to help, but... he seems to have vaporized. What would you even do?



"...Please?"

>Maybe he needs a little time to himself. It's better to see how you can help those who do want your assistance.



"...Alright..."

> Doctor? You there?

>Elsewhere, in existential peril...

> Hey, so hypothetically, what happens if you slip and fall? Just completely hypothetically?

> Try not to think about the works of M. C. Escher.

>Somehow end up where you need to go.

>Try not to think about the works of M. C. Escher.



"...It wasn't this bad when we went in there, right?"

>Hey, so hypothetically, what happens if you slip and fall? Just completely hypothetically?



"I uh..."
"Let's just be careful, okay guys?"



"Cherry, could you slow down? I said be careful!"
"I d-d-don't want to be caught on a ffffalling floor...!"
"You'll fall anyway if you're reckless!"



"...Sheesh..."

>Don't step on the floor gunk!

>Don't step on the floor gunk!



The what

>Y'know, the floor gunk that might be about to murder you.

RIP Quin,she never scored

Good time to be going now! Right along!

> Look, do you mind? We're kind of fleeing obliteration or whatever here.

> Invite her to come with you!

Quin, whatever her beef is with you, you gotta address it now.

> Oh shit oh fuck oh goddamnit

Today was Superego's 7th anniversary! Happy birthday Superego! I'd say here's to 7 more years, but...I don't actually think it's going to be that long.

Still, that's easily the longest I've semi-consistently worked on anything, uh, ever. At this point I'm not sure how I'm still doing it.

>Y'know, the floor gunk that might be about to murder you.



"Run!"

>Quin, whatever her beef is with you, you gotta address it now.



No! Now's not the time! You need to get OUT of here!

>Good time to be going now! Right along!



-always running from her problems



-problems
-personal problems
-everyday problems
-relationship problems
-career problems
-problems i cant control
-i didnt ask for my brain to be this way
-i cant help it
-but i get blamed
-blamed for everyTHING SO WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO

extremely good expressions in this one.

Okay, so, a fun metaphor here: Quin feels like she causes her own problems, and here she is, her, being a problem for herself and the people around her. And she feels ashamed of running from her problems, which are caused by her, so running from this problem (her) is probably not the move. And... telling her "not right now, we need to run from these other problems or else we'll die" is like the least helpful possible thing to tell Shadow Quin. And... confronting that problem head-on, i.e. trying to punch her out... is also not metaphorically a healthy thing to do here, since that's just more self-flagellation.

This is like, hard mode. Previous shadows have been placated with "okay, I admit I have these problems and you're a part of me that I need to cope with somehow". Quin's shadow, though, is saying that the problem is that she's accepted her problems as a part of her. So...

Okay, no, subtly different: Quin's had problems in life, some of which she's caused herself, and feels like she can't control her own behavior. The problems exist- and there's a question of responsibility. She's not saying A "the problems are caused by me and that's my fault" or B "the problems are not caused by me and that's not my fault". She's saying C "the problems are caused by me and that's not my fault", which, to some extent, because of brain problems, sure, but... oof.

Of course, a lot of her problems are actually not her fault. Her dad wasn't her fault, Andrea wasn't her fault, a lot of the things she's been hearing and amplifying are just... not her fault. She's not separating problems that were inflicted on her from problems that were caused by her own lashing out- it's got to be one or the other, and she knows some problems are her fault and therefore all of them must be. Except that doesn't make any sense, does it?

-problems i cant control
-i cant help it
-but i get blamed
It doesn't make any sense, so what is she supposed to do?!

So, if we want to get that through to Shadow Quin, who feels like she has to accept the blame for everything... maybe we make it clear to her that this problem, right now, is not her fault. It's bonkers to even construe it as her fault. The problems happening right now are happening because some quack tricked everyone into letting him conduct dangerous experiments on their brains. This isn't an Ava situation where it's not fair to blame her- it's totally fair to blame that guy. It's totally fair to blame Andrea for Andrea, it's totally fair to blame no one for ice being dangerous.

>Are you really going to try and make this OUR fault?!

(this of course works best if cherry, ava, and helen back her up. if you've got chronic problems with assigning blame fairly, friends who can put things in perspective for you are useful.)

(also i bet there would be zero problems whatsoever with convincing Shadow Quin that Grey is the appropriate target for her wrath)

Ava: Call for help
Cherry: You can't leave them behind! What will Rick say if you did?
Quin: Yeah you had problems, but don't you think you're being too hard on yourself?

Hi there! If you don't follow my Tumblr, there was an update regarding Superego. Essentially, I am going to update at a slow pace until Chapter 04 ends, then take a hiatus before Chapter 05, because I am moving house!!

>Quin: Yeah you had problems, but don't you think you're being too hard on yourself?



"Quin! Please!"



"I--"



-end this already!



-we cant keep doing this!

>Cherry: You can't leave them behind! What will Rick say if you did?



-im just
-so
-exhausted

>Then stop fighting. Fighting yourself will solve nothing and only make you more exhausted.

Hi guys, I have sad news regarding the update of my personal life I referenced in the previous update. My dad passed away suddenly, thus dashing all plans of moving since we needed his salary. So technically I have no reason not to update Superego right now but obviously my mind is not in the right place and I'm not sure when it will be back. I do intend to finish this, especially now since we're so close to the end of Chapter 04, it seems ridiculous to go on hiatus right here but I cannot find the right mindspace to do it.

I am still working on creative projects though, gotta keep myself moving somehow.

If you want to keep in touch with me, you can try my Tumblr, Twitter, or my podcast.