Lacuna Rambles/Thoughts/Gif Reacts #3: Creature Comforts 🌲

Me @ You if you thought this post was about the ???:

[Alternate Text: A GIF of a man spraying a young boy in the face with a water bottle with a vaguely disappointed expression.]

My chastisement with this GIF usage is only joking, considering I might (who knows? 👁️👁️) give you an option to sing to the ??? in this book among other questionable things. We're more like this: 🤝 than anything, but it isn't the topic of our post. In fact, I'm singling out a rather specific choice option that I feel may be overlooked at first glance. I typically don't spotlight specific ones, knowing that they're all valid and fair game for you to shape your Returning Visitors. Yet, this one has interesting Fernweh gang insight that I wanted to shed additional light on.

It's by no means the 'right' choice! There are 9 in the set that link to unique exchanges. This is a neat conversation that's harder to unlock because it's reliant on your MC's abandonment issues.

#View this as reinforcing your abandonment issues. "At least my grandfather was consistent. He got rid of the furniture too."

Instead of the blank spaces and stretches of emptiness around the room, you imagine what used to be there. There were pieces of your life—your childhood—in this cabin that he easily tossed away. It wasn't simply furniture. Your grandfather wanted a clean break from you.

"At least my grandfather was consistent," you quietly observe, unable to raise your voice much higher lest it sound strained—tempered with an old hurt. "He got rid of the furniture too. No mementos." Did he try to forget the memories that couldn't be thrown out?

"'Out of sight, out of mind'," R recites the adage without any trace of humor, surveying the space again now that you're studying a particular knot in the wood flooring. "It is a poor reflection on him, not you, along with a lackluster design. No one could feel comfortable while here: no seats or decor."

"Maybe he didn't think he was supposed to?" B tentatively suggests before saying more when you look over. "Like, prison rooms aren't the height of luxury, right? Because it isn't what they deserve—not that we should make it unlivable or super cruel. Oh, this wasn't a good example—I mean: he might not have been going for a 'comfy' vibe. It's on purpose."

"A punishment?" J clarifies.

"Maybe? I don't know where I was going with this…"

You consider what B said; however, your grandfather's behavior hurt more than himself, a 'punishment' you never deserved.

This conversation can tease out the Fernweh Gang's views on the grandfather!

I'm not going to state them succinctly here because I hope it's fun to learn more about them through the content itself. 🌲There are some touchstones and trends! B's observation might take some MCs (possibly readers too) by surprise, hinting at their perspective in multiple ways. Really, how they all react can be interesting. S is notably quiet in this one versus other choices. J was the first one to mention 'punishment', while R honed in on the MC's feelings rather than having much personal basis about the TFS grandfather. Conversations like this one, those in the Verner mansion, and elsewhere give more insight/hints about the gang. 💚 However, the lacking decor of the cabin is something to ponder beyond its fire safety implications and your hard/soft/mixed feelings for the TFS grandfather.