Honestly I don't know what's sadder about The Celebration Of Twilight: Lisette being separated from Goldia forever just as she made up for the pain she she put Lisette through, or Enjel being stuck with an insufferable douchebag who will never make up for the shit he put her through 😔

True, but tbh that's the vibe I was going for. The endings in-game game are meant to be bittersweet, so I wanted TCOT to have that underlining feeling to it. I've never believed in happy conclusions where everything is permanently solved unless that can work in the storyline. For me, it's too unrealistic.

These characters are all fundamentally broken people with flaws, and the best thing they can do is learn to accept them. Each chapter is based on the bonus rooms in Pocket Mirror, so Goldia can actually visit them anytime. Lisette sitting on the hill, Harpae looking out the window, Fleta chilling with Egliette in the main lobby of her mansion? It's all there once players finish the game. Enjel also appears to have freedom from Ozzy in her bonus room, so it's a silver lining. Might not come across this way if people don't get the references, though.

There's a scene at the end of Barbie in the Nutcracker where Clara meets a guy who looks exactly like the version of Prince Eric from her dream and starts dancing with him. Writing something like that, with Goldia meeting a potential lover, interests me a lot. Maybe as an epilogue?

(Some parts of TCOT directly reference old literature... I should probably make a post explaining them at some point as well)