hey remember that caramel-carmel Fake Script i was writing? yeah it's technically not done but i'm tired of tinkering with it so here it is! we'll just say it's a uhhhh uncovered partial script or somethin
this is not in any way official! it's a 100% unaffiliated fanwork & i am Just Fucking Around for Funsies
~
BARNABY: oh, I love carmul!
FRANK: [long, disgusted pause] …what?
BARNABY: Carmul! You know, those tasty little treats you’re holdin’!
FRANK: You mean caramel?
BARNABY: That’s what I said.
FRANK: [scoffs] No, you didn’t. You said carmul.
BARNABY: We’re sayin’ the same thing here.
FRANK: We absolutely are not!
JULIE: [giggles] You really aren’t.
BARNABY: Carmul, caramel, tomato, tomahto! What does it matter!
FRANK: [flustered, stammering] It - it matters! Julie, you agree with me, don’t you?
JULIE: Well… I don’t know, Frank! I think both are fun!
FRANK: You’re both wrong, then! Wally, you agree with me, don’t you?
WALLY: [hesitant] …I say carmul.
FRANK: No! Not you too! How could you poison him like this, Barnaby?
BARNABY: Don’t look at me! I’m innocent, honest!
FRANK: Ha! So you admit that carmul is the wrong pronunciation!
BARNABY: [groans] ah, geez… throw a dog a bone!
FRANK: I’d be delighted to if you’d just-
[distant yelp as Eddie trips off-screen]
FRANK: Eddie! Thank goodness, finally someone who can put an end to this debate!
EDDIE: [nervous laugh] Oh no, what did I stumble into this time?
BARNABY: Hold on a tic, Frank. Hey Ed, take this. What do you call that tasty treat?
EDDIE: [with a tinge of fear] A… caramel?
FRANK: [triumphant] a-HA!
SALLY: [approaching] Did someone mention carmul?
FRANK: AGH!
BARNABY: [delighted] Perfect timing, Sally!
SALLY: What, for a delicious morsel? Hand it over, thank you!
FRANK: You’re all wrong, and I’ll prove it! We’re going to go around the neighborhood and - wait. [under his breath] One two three four - [returns to normal volume] we’re taking this to Poppy’s!
BARNABY: Then Home, then Howdy, yeah yeah - might as well ask the daisies, too.
JULIE: Oooh, and the butterflies!
SALLY: While we’re at it, we should phone everyone in the book, just to get the widest audience input.
FRANK: [unamused] You all think you’re so funny.
EDDIE: Well, you gotta admit it’s… it’s…
[brief, tense pause. Eddie clears his throat]
EDDIE: It’s perfectly sensible!
[Frank makes an affronted noise]
FRANK: Poppy will see sense.
-
POPPY: I’d be delighted to have a cah-mehl, but I’m afraid it-
FRANK: [aghast, truly astonished] You’re joking. You have to be joking. CAH-MEHL? Does no one in this town have sense?! Besides Eddie, of course. And Julie - on a technicality.
EDDIE: [oddly pleased] Why thank you.
POPPY: My goodness, did- did I say it wrong?
BARNABY: [gleeful] Not in the least, Pops!
SALLY: As far as I’m concerned, you added an extra layer of… pizazz to the word. In fact, I may adjust my own pronunciation accordingly!
POPPY: [flustered] Oh, well, I didn’t - don’t change on my account -
SALLY: Take the compliment, Poppy.
POPPY: [meekly] Thank you.
[Sally wanders from the group, practicing the slightly adjusted pronunciation]
WALLY: I’m not sure I understand. What’s wrong with carmul or… care… mul… carmel…
POPPY: Don’t strain yourself dear, you’ll get a migraine.
FRANK: What’s wrong is that it’s ENTIRELY incorrect! It! Is! Pronounced! Caramel!
JULIE: Aww, Frank, I’m sure Home and Howdy will agree with us! Team Caramel, WOOO!
BARNABY: [barely restrained disbelief] Boy, won’t they!
POPPY: I’m not sure what the fuss is about… there isn’t much of a difference, is there?
[Frank makes a high pitched, frustrated noise and stomps off. He can be heard calling Home’s name in the background]
JULIE: Oop, there he goes!
POPPY: Oh - oh dear. I didn’t mean to rile him up.
BARNABY: Don’t twist your beak about it - Frank’s just bein’ Frank. Now if you’ll excuse us, I wanna see how it goes with Home.
WALLY: [quietly, thoughtful] But Home doesn’t talk like us…
POPPY: If you’re sure… Do let me know how it goes.
SALLY: [swaying back to the group] I’ll phone you post-haste! Or even better, I can come by for one of your delicious muffins and regale you with the whole escapade, in detail.
POPPY: [audibly pleased] That sounds - well that sounds like a wonderful idea! I have some fresh from this morning-
BARNABY: Sounds great! See you around, Poppy.
-
FRANK: Home, I have an important question to ask you. Is the correct pronunciation for this candy ‘carmul’, or ‘caramel’? One creak for caramel, two for the incorrect carmul.
BARNABY: Talk about a bias…
[Home stays silent. Sally yawns.]
FRANK: One creak for caramel, two-
[Home slowly shuts their curtains]
FRANK: Hmph! The nerve… well, I suppose a house that can’t speak shouldn’t have a say, anyway.
WALLY: Home can speak. He just does it differently.
BARNABY: And I’m pretty sure they just agreed with me, Walls, an’ Sally.
JULIE: They did not!
BARNABY: Looked like it to me!
SALLY: I have to agree with Julie. Home just declared itself a neutral party, and so the vote can’t be counted either way. On to Howardson!
JULIE: Yes! Howdy! Our last hope!
FRANK: He may have terrible taste in company, but he’s a sensible businessman. Poppy and Home have let me-
JULIE: Us!
FRANK: -us down, but surely Howdy will back us up.
BARNABY: [faux-serious tone, knows something they don’t] Absolutely. Without a doubt.
-
[store bell chimes]
HOWDY: Howdy-do - [brief pause, a tinge of surprise] everyone! My my, what brings the entire neighborhood to my bountiful bodega? Finally decided to clean me out for good?
BARNABY: [snorts] With how fast you restock? I think I’d break my funnybone!
FRANK: We have important business.
HOWDY: [mildly curious] Do we? That’s news to me! But I’m letting you know now that I don’t deal in bugs, Frankly. It’d be hypocritical.
FRANK: Believe me, I wish I were here to talk insects. Unfortunately, I need to settle a score. Mr. Dear, if you would?
EDDIE: If I would what?
SALLY: [stage-whisper] Barnabello gave you the, ah, parcel earlier?
EDDIE: The…? Oh! Oh, right - I have it right here, just… give me a second… which pocket…? There we go.
[sound of a small, hard candy placed on the countertop]
HOWDY: A carmul all for me? You shouldn’t have! No, really, you shouldn’t have. I’m on the clock.
BARNABY: [loud bark of laughter] I knew I could count on you, pal! So what’s the tally, Frankie?
[Frank mutters something inaudible]
BARNABY: What was that? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of me bein’ right!
FRANK: [explosive] You’re all wrong! The correct pronunciation is caramel, CARAMEL! You’re all - you’re all just - heathens! Heathens, I say! I’m taking my company elsewhere!
EDDIE: Mr. Frankly…
JULIE: [overlapping, following] Aw, c’mon Frank!
[the door jingles. Julie and Frank’s hushed arguing in the doorway underlies the dialogue]
HOWDY: It sounds like I missed quite the context! Mind filling me in?
BARNABY: That was pretty much it; a real potato potahto argument.
HOWDY: If you say so, Barn. Speaking of potahtos-
[the background argument abruptly cuts off, the door jingles again as it's closed]
FRANK: [rapidly rejoining the group] Hold it! You don’t really say potahto, do you?
BARNABY: [under breath] Here we go again…
SALLY: [deeply amused] Where on Earth did you pick up such a butchered pronunciation? I must have missed the sign on my tour down from the heavens.
EDDIE: [baffled, underlying the dialogue] I’ve never heard anyone say it that way.
JULIE: Oh! Is it a joke? Like, Barnaby says potato-potahto, and then you jokingly say potahto to make us laugh?
HOWDY: It’s not a joke. That’s how it’s said.
FRANK: [genuinely disturbed] No - no one says that. It’s potato.
HOWDY: Well I say potahto, thank you very much! And if you ever want one from my store again, you’d do well to accept that.
[Various grumbles of reluctant acceptance]
HOWDY: Good. Now, can I get any of you a refreshing drink after such a squall? You must be parched!
WALLY: I wouldn’t mind a glass of mulk.
[Horrified silence. A pin drop would be deafening]
[Sudden uproarious and overlapping argument]
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I hope I’m not reading into this too much, but the way that the Touchstarved logo (with the characters) on the Red Springs Studios website and in the PV trailer is set up makes me think it’s not just an artistic choice. I know that the characters in the image have been rearranged in a different order for certain promotions, but I just want to talk about why I think the characters in the main logo are set up that way and what it could imply about Touchstarved’s routes.
As seen above, Ais is in the center with Leander on his right (our left) and Mhin on his left (our right). Behind him, there’s Kuras and Vere. Ais is obviously the poster boy for Touchstarved. He’s usually in the center for their promotional images and merchandise e.g. the game’s loading screen, the pins and the tote bag. The devs themselves have said that Ais was the first character they created and that they built the world of Eridia around him.
There’s lots of theories floating around about Leander’s design which features Ouroboros, his eye bags, motifs of life and death, his white lilies, and lots of other things. His belt in particular features a triple goddess symbol which represents stages of womanhood as the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone. The Maiden is associated with beginnings– so things like (re)birth, youth, exploration, etc. The Mother is associated with, well, motherhood but also power and stability. The Crone is the opposite of the Maiden, being associated with death. I’m sure there’s already theories on his belt and this symbol, but I think personally Leander only represents one of them in the grand scheme of things.
I think Leander, Ais and Mhin respectively represent the Maiden, Mother and Crone. Despite Leander’s death motifs, I feel like him being the Maiden is fitting because of his personality and character design. His coat is green and so are his eyes and magical flowers. Green is the color of life. Though his flowers are typically used for funerals in some cultures, flowers themselves are full of life. He even comments that they don’t last long, but they’re beautiful nonetheless. As life is. Secondly, Leander’s personality is, perhaps, the liveliest among the cast. He’s always upbeat and smiling (or blushing) which is why I think he represents the Maiden. He’s what you’d think of when you think of youth. He’s partying, drinking, performing magic tricks, has a club/the Bloodhounds and he seems to be having fun all the time.
As for Ais, I feel like it's pretty understandable that he is the Mother. He’s marketed as powerful, violent and intimidating. He loves bar brawls and hates easy fights. Additionally, it’s implied that he used to be a leader or at least in a gang. Red is a predominant part of his character and design. The Seaspring is red. So are his horns, eyes and the accents on his clothes. Red is, well, a powerful color. It represents powerful, strong emotions like love and anger. And emotions are a big part of Ais’s character. They’re his fatal flaw!
And finally, Mhin is the Crone. I was actually debating whether they were the Maiden (and Leander would be the Crone) since they were fairly new to Eridia like MC… like a new beginning in a new city? I’m going on a tangent here, but I think it may be deliberate on the devs’ part. Leander and Mhin could possibly represent the Maiden and the Crone because life and death are intertwined. Mhin has a celtic knot/triquetra on their cloak’s clasps. The triquetra is used to represent three things that are deeply connected e.g. the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In pagan traditions, it’s used to represent the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone… like the triple goddess symbol on Leander’s belt. Anyways back to Mhin, I think the Crone suits them the best. Their supposed monster form is either a crow or a raven. Black feathered birds are associated with bad omens. Moreover, crows and ravens are associated with death thanks to pop culture and media. Our first encounter with Mhin was when we were at death’s door. They also shroud themselves with a cloak, have white hair and are extremely pale when compared to the rest of the cast.
The way Leander, Ais and Mhin are set up in the logo makes me want to believe that they’re representing the triple goddess symbol and that at least story wise, they may be the most important routes. They’re placed at the front and all three characters have something to do with curses. Leander knows his way around curses. He might be cursed himself. His eye bags are pointed out by MC and he doesn’t seem to be that fond of sleep either. Ais technically doesn’t have a curse, but the last two lines of his character introduction are “He’s beginning to suspect that he may not be in control of his powers as he thought. Can you save each other, or will he drag you into the abyss with him?”... which sounds like a curse to me. And aside from Leander, is also the only one to know about MC’s curse. Then, for Mhin, they also have a curse of their own and have been seen sneaking around the Senobium… possibly for a cure of their own?
This isn’t to say that Vere and Kuras aren’t important and relevant characters. It may just be the typical thing with otome games where certain routes have more lore than others and it’s recommended to save them for last. It’s usually the poster boy’s route. In this case, Ais’s.
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