Clive Carson, 01-10: He had a brief conversation with the Sheriff (in which he learned nothing he didn’t already know) before returning home… more—content, because he would get back long before Melissa. The rain hadn’t subsided in the least. In fact, the storm’s animosity seemed all the more tangible as thunder broke more frequently and distant streaks of lightning lit up the dark clouds like veins pumping molten gold.
Zeus—or some other sky-ruling deity—was having a temper tantrum this morning. Whereas Clive felt rather good and fulfilled, all things considered. He was cold, yes. Damp, certainly. The chance of catching a cold, high. But he felt good about himself in the way only brought about by good deeds. But it was a positivity tempered by the dark doors which still hung open. The fate of the woman troubled Clive especially and he hoped he’d be kept in the loop.
Clive reached Summer Street at about 06:30 and parked in his driveway. Openin… [view original content]
Wait... whoa, wait, that was crazy. This part just gave my theory about a parrallel universe far more credibility. However, just as you confirmed before, it can't be that simple. There has to be more to it than just a mere parrallel universe that is somehow getting all mixed up. But this is a step forwards. This proves, once again, that Rachel and likely Alex as well exist somewhere. Perhaps it's even different than I thought before. Maybe it's not them that are missing, perhaps something is wrong with Clive. Maybe he is somehow experiencing the wrong reality and in certain situations, like him being stressed out and tired, he kind of mixes these realities up a little bit. Whatever it is, it can't be healthy for him, but I feel like we are so close to getting an answer. I also wonder what this thing about the satchel in the room was, since you put some emphasis on it. It seems to have been something that was not supposed to be there, something that caused Clive to snap out of this vision.
[Tell the truth.]
Okay... lying to his wife is always a bad thing to do, that much is for sure. It is my belief that they should be honest to each other. But there is more to this. If Clive has been experiencing these strange visions, then it is not too far fetched to think that Melissa might had them as well. Perhaps she won't think that he is crazy, but will believe him. And in that case, perhaps she knows how to help. We know Clive is not crazy, at least most likely not. What he saw is real in some way. And Melissa should learn about it as well.
Clive Carson, 01-10: He had a brief conversation with the Sheriff (in which he learned nothing he didn’t already know) before returning home… more—content, because he would get back long before Melissa. The rain hadn’t subsided in the least. In fact, the storm’s animosity seemed all the more tangible as thunder broke more frequently and distant streaks of lightning lit up the dark clouds like veins pumping molten gold.
Zeus—or some other sky-ruling deity—was having a temper tantrum this morning. Whereas Clive felt rather good and fulfilled, all things considered. He was cold, yes. Damp, certainly. The chance of catching a cold, high. But he felt good about himself in the way only brought about by good deeds. But it was a positivity tempered by the dark doors which still hung open. The fate of the woman troubled Clive especially and he hoped he’d be kept in the loop.
Clive reached Summer Street at about 06:30 and parked in his driveway. Openin… [view original content]
Clive Carson, 01-10: He had a brief conversation with the Sheriff (in which he learned nothing he didn’t already know) before returning home… more—content, because he would get back long before Melissa. The rain hadn’t subsided in the least. In fact, the storm’s animosity seemed all the more tangible as thunder broke more frequently and distant streaks of lightning lit up the dark clouds like veins pumping molten gold.
Zeus—or some other sky-ruling deity—was having a temper tantrum this morning. Whereas Clive felt rather good and fulfilled, all things considered. He was cold, yes. Damp, certainly. The chance of catching a cold, high. But he felt good about himself in the way only brought about by good deeds. But it was a positivity tempered by the dark doors which still hung open. The fate of the woman troubled Clive especially and he hoped he’d be kept in the loop.
Clive reached Summer Street at about 06:30 and parked in his driveway. Openin… [view original content]
[Tell the truth.] I dont see a good reason to lie. And like Liquid said, maybe Melissa believes him and can help him make sense of this. I have my own theory but I doubt it is right. I think maybe Clive is the problem here and not his children. This could be a dream he has and this strange things that happen could be him trying to wake up from it.
Clive Carson, 01-10: He had a brief conversation with the Sheriff (in which he learned nothing he didn’t already know) before returning home… more—content, because he would get back long before Melissa. The rain hadn’t subsided in the least. In fact, the storm’s animosity seemed all the more tangible as thunder broke more frequently and distant streaks of lightning lit up the dark clouds like veins pumping molten gold.
Zeus—or some other sky-ruling deity—was having a temper tantrum this morning. Whereas Clive felt rather good and fulfilled, all things considered. He was cold, yes. Damp, certainly. The chance of catching a cold, high. But he felt good about himself in the way only brought about by good deeds. But it was a positivity tempered by the dark doors which still hung open. The fate of the woman troubled Clive especially and he hoped he’d be kept in the loop.
Clive reached Summer Street at about 06:30 and parked in his driveway. Openin… [view original content]
When you get excited after noticing you have a lot of notifications, thinking you got a lot of replies only to find out it's just @janitor commenting on every thread you're following.
When you get excited after noticing you have a lot of notifications, thinking you got a lot of replies only to find out it's just @janitor commenting on every thread you're following.
I'm just joking btw
I feel the need to let you know that Silicon County is going to be on the briefest break. Maybe 'break' isn't the correct word. Just a slight delay, really. Last weekend, I got caught up with the local Nutcracker stuff and had to attend all the rehearsals even though I had a very small part. It was fun and interesting but also incredibly time consuming. It's over now, so...
The continuation of Tyler's storyline is coming soonest, Clive's part is next after that, and Thomas's part will conclude things this chapter.
I have not read the original story. I'm reading the reboot, and I just finished reading the Tyler 1-07 section. I really like this story so far. Although, I'm still kind of confused on its premise or plot. It's interesting, nonetheless. I already have some characters in mind that I would like to submit. Also, I have a question for those who read the original story. I noticed there is a lot of hatred for this Luke character. From what I gather, he killed Liquid's character, Alex. My question is why did he do this? Also, did he do other terrible things as well? If so, what were his motives?
Hey Tales! Welcome, I'm glad to see you here! You surely picked one seriously amazing story with this and one of my current favourites Don't worry about being confused though, I think we're all having this problem right now. Since the story has just started, there are a lot of questions that have just been opened, so that is of course only natural. I guess other than Hope, no one can give you good answers to that one for now, but I am sure that everything will be answered in time. I think it can be said that the story has and will have some strong mystery elements in it, including happenings that are most likely outright supernatural in their origin (like Clifford or the disappearance of Clive's children), all of it in the rural Silicon County, all of it happening to ordinary people. For now, I don't know more and can only speculate, with the hopes of getting more answers in the future. It is a lot of fun, I'm sure you're going to enjoy it!
Now, with Luke, he is a special case and a very heated point of debate in the original story. In fact, I hope that this won't bring up some of these old emotions, which I am glad have faded by now. First of all, I think I am the only one who had this genuine hatred towards him. As far as I know, janitor merely disliked him and I'm pretty sure neither Lord nor Agent, who usually debated with me about this case, actually outright liked him, they only disagreed with the way I wanted to deal with him. Correct me if I'm wrong here, guys!
Anyways, since I had this incredibly intense hatred for Luke, I'm perhaps not the most objective person to answer, though I will try regardless, since I guess that my viewpoint might give some clarity. My hatred came entirely from emotion and not from logic, so if you are looking for an objective and logical answer, Hope is the one you have to ask. That said, my hatred has mostly faded down ever since the reboot got announced. After several minor hints from Hope, I am at the very least genuinely curious where he plans on taking this character in this reboot. Chances are good that he will be entirely different from the character he used to be in the original story. By now, I only feel some slight remaining resentment for this character whom I had such a strong antipathy against and I expect this to further fade once the reboot Luke gets a chance at replacing my mental image of the original Luke.
My question is why did he do this?
This was a major point of discussion between me and the others in the original story. In my opinion, there has been no reason and no excuse. He and Alex accidentally bumped into each other, at which point Alex angrily yelled at him. Both also had a history of getting into fights. Luke then pulled a gun and shot him in the shoulder, which caused Alex to fall into the river and drown, while Luke did literally nothing to help. To various degrees, the other readers had different opinions and will probably give different answers here, but at least in my opinion, there has not been even the tiniest of mitigating circumstances, even if I must admit that the arguments the others might be able to bring are not baseless either. For me, the Luke from the original story was pure evil because of his actions and no reason could have possibly redeemed him in the slightest.
Also, did he do other terrible things as well?
Well, a couple of months ago, before the reboot basically I would have said that his very existence is already a terrible thing. But well, even objectively, there happened more than "just" murdering Alex. First, there were the terrible consequences of this, which probably ruined the lives of Alex' family, his father and sister. Second, Luke became some sort of an incorporeal being after the murder and in this form, he apparently triggered a heart attack for Alex' father, he definitely attacked and severely wounded the town sherriff and his actions directly led to the death of his best friend, Samantha. But well, at least from my point of view, murdering Alex is already enough to justify the amount of hatred I had for him. He made it very personal with this.
If so, what were his motives?
That's the problem, we don't know. The story got rebooted before it could get there. Luke spent a majority of his time in the story as this incorporeal force of nature and just at the very end of the old story, he got back from this. Apparently, there would have been a confrontation between him and Alex' sister Rachel, during which we would have probably learned more about his motivations, but since it never happens, I can only speculate. We don't know exactly why he murdered Alex, why he stalked Clive until the man had a heart attack from his presence and why he attacked the sherriff (having taken possession of a wolf just for this purpose, on top of everything). However, even I have to admit that he certainly never intended to get Samantha killed, which doesn't change the fact that it has been a terrible and direct consequence of his actions.
I hope that answers things from my perspective. I seriously could go on for hours about why I hate Luke so much, so if you have additional questions about it, don't hesitate to ask me and I will try my best to make things more clear
I have not read the original story. I'm reading the reboot, and I just finished reading the Tyler 1-07 section. I really like this story so … morefar. Although, I'm still kind of confused on its premise or plot. It's interesting, nonetheless. I already have some characters in mind that I would like to submit. Also, I have a question for those who read the original story. I noticed there is a lot of hatred for this Luke character. From what I gather, he killed Liquid's character, Alex. My question is why did he do this? Also, did he do other terrible things as well? If so, what were his motives?
Well, a couple of months ago, before the reboot basically I would have said that his very existence is already a terrible thing. But well, even objectively, there happened more than "just" murdering Alex. First, there were the terrible consequences of this, which probably ruined the lives of Alex' family, his father and sister. Second, Luke became some sort of an incorporeal being after the murder and in this form, he apparently triggered a heart attack for Alex' father, he definitely attacked and severely wounded the town sherriff and his actions directly led to the death of his best friend, Samantha. But well, at least from my point of view, murdering Alex is already enough to justify the amount of hatred I had for him. He made it very personal with this.
Just so you know, I wasn't trying to minimize what he did to Alex. I just wanted to know if he did other terrible things. For example, how did his actions lead to the death of Samantha?
Hey Tales! Welcome, I'm glad to see you here! You surely picked one seriously amazing story with this and one of my current favourites Don'… moret worry about being confused though, I think we're all having this problem right now. Since the story has just started, there are a lot of questions that have just been opened, so that is of course only natural. I guess other than Hope, no one can give you good answers to that one for now, but I am sure that everything will be answered in time. I think it can be said that the story has and will have some strong mystery elements in it, including happenings that are most likely outright supernatural in their origin (like Clifford or the disappearance of Clive's children), all of it in the rural Silicon County, all of it happening to ordinary people. For now, I don't know more and can only speculate, with the hopes of getting more answers in the future. It is a lot of fun, I'm sure you're going to enjoy it!
… [view original content]
I know, I know, I wasn't implying that either, no worries It is by far the worst thing he did in my opinion but well, as said above, he did a couple of additional terrible things as well, which only further fuelled my hatred. With Samantha, I see her as one of his victims as well. Before he settled to stalk Clive in his incorporeal form, he did the same to Samantha. However, just being near people in this form had drastic effects on them. Clive got a serious heart attack, but Samantha had even more severe problems, since she got sent into a coma for several weeks (during which the story had a timeskip). After she awoke, she received a strange power, namely clairvoyance and it is highly likely that this was a direct result of Luke interacting with her. Ultimately, she used this power to find out just what exactly happened that day, with Luke and Alex. However, she only succeeded at getting a glimpse at Luke shooting Alex before this power ended up killing her. The exact reason why she had this power and why it killed her hasn't been explained in the original story, since it hasn't proceeded to the point where such answers would be given. It is unlikely that Luke intended to get her killed, but even then I hold him responsible for it as well.
Well, a couple of months ago, before the reboot basically I would have said that his very existence is already a terrible thing. But well, e… moreven objectively, there happened more than "just" murdering Alex. First, there were the terrible consequences of this, which probably ruined the lives of Alex' family, his father and sister. Second, Luke became some sort of an incorporeal being after the murder and in this form, he apparently triggered a heart attack for Alex' father, he definitely attacked and severely wounded the town sherriff and his actions directly led to the death of his best friend, Samantha. But well, at least from my point of view, murdering Alex is already enough to justify the amount of hatred I had for him. He made it very personal with this.
Just so you know, I wasn't trying to minimize what he did to Alex. I just wanted to know if he did other terrible things. For example, how did his actions lead to the death of Samantha?
Not to bring back old debates but... I think it's really unfair to blame Samantha's death on Luke. Plus Owen told her not to fuck around with her powers but she did it anyway.
I know, I know, I wasn't implying that either, no worries It is by far the worst thing he did in my opinion but well, as said above, he did… more a couple of additional terrible things as well, which only further fuelled my hatred. With Samantha, I see her as one of his victims as well. Before he settled to stalk Clive in his incorporeal form, he did the same to Samantha. However, just being near people in this form had drastic effects on them. Clive got a serious heart attack, but Samantha had even more severe problems, since she got sent into a coma for several weeks (during which the story had a timeskip). After she awoke, she received a strange power, namely clairvoyance and it is highly likely that this was a direct result of Luke interacting with her. Ultimately, she used this power to find out just what exactly happened that day, with Luke and Alex. However, she only succeeded at getting a glimpse at Luke shooting Alex before this power end… [view original content]
I know, I know, I wasn't implying that either, no worries It is by far the worst thing he did in my opinion but well, as said above, he did… more a couple of additional terrible things as well, which only further fuelled my hatred. With Samantha, I see her as one of his victims as well. Before he settled to stalk Clive in his incorporeal form, he did the same to Samantha. However, just being near people in this form had drastic effects on them. Clive got a serious heart attack, but Samantha had even more severe problems, since she got sent into a coma for several weeks (during which the story had a timeskip). After she awoke, she received a strange power, namely clairvoyance and it is highly likely that this was a direct result of Luke interacting with her. Ultimately, she used this power to find out just what exactly happened that day, with Luke and Alex. However, she only succeeded at getting a glimpse at Luke shooting Alex before this power end… [view original content]
Well, I disagree on that... and we're having a Luke debate again, haven't we? Let me try to keep this one more objective Anyways, I do disagree with this. Not only from my own feelings about Luke, but especially on a purely logical level. Of course, it is not first degree murder or something like that, but Luke can still be blamed for Samantha's death. There is a certain criminal offence that is called involuntary manslaughter, which I see him as guilty of in this case. This is usually applied when someone's actions led to the death of another person without any intention of killing or even just harming this person. I mean, not even I can claim that Luke murdered her on purpose and in cold blood, which he clearly did not, but he still had quite the hand in her death as well and this shouldn't be ignored. Of course, Owen is just as guilty in my opinion and his warning has been extremely vague at best, but that doesn't change the fact that Luke's interaction with her put her into this situation where her powers ended up killing her. Without Luke's actions, Samantha would have survived and that means he can be blamed for it.
Not to bring back old debates but... I think it's really unfair to blame Samantha's death on Luke. Plus Owen told her not to fuck around with her powers but she did it anyway.
You're welcome! As I said, I am hardly the most objective person in this case and me and Agent had some pretty big debates about exactly these questions, though I hope my viewpoint helped. If you have any further questions, I can try to answer them, although Hope should be able to give you a more neutral, unbiased view on the topic.
Let me first welcome your to Silicon County! You'll make a great addition and I'm looking forward to seeing who you submit! Now, firstly, I would advise you avoid reading the original story completely. I'm afraid of it coloring opinions of characters (such as Luke, who you've brought up, and who I'll get into in a moment) and I'm generally just very unproud of how it turned out. The very least I can honestly say about it is that it had some interesting ideas and some cool moments—but fortunately, a lot of ideas that appeared in the original story and that I liked are going to be making new and drastically altered appearances in the reboot. These concepts will be improved and strengthened in the writing quality and level of planning (and it should be noted one of the original story's fatal flaws was a lack of planning; the reboot, on the other hand, has been planned extensively).
Liquid summed up the layman's perspective on what the heck is going on very well. I should mention that the genre isn't easily placed because it will jump genres a lot of times. I can name a few quite easily that will be explored: Mystery, Horror, Adventure, and most notably Fantasy. To expand on Liquid's summary, this story is set in a midwestern county that, on the surface, appears to be a normal (if a tad backwater) modern day county encompassing three towns. Alas, some things are amiss, and the continuity (evident to the readers; dawning on just one character so far) is just plain wrong, most notably in the case of Clive's missing children, Rachel and Alexander, who seem to have just been written off completely. An explanation exists, of course. In addition to the continuity hiccups, there is also at the very least one supernatural entity (dubbed Clifford, like the Big Red Dog) that has been glimpsed by Tyler. Again, an explanation exists for this creature's existence. Now... I'm gonna dip into some stuff that I've been wanting to reveal as Silicon County's premise: Eight to twelve people explore a strange world in their dreams, home to frightful things, some of which possess a disturbing level of control over the county they live in.
It's a lot more complicated than that, but say more would spoil what I have in store.
Liquid has done an exceptional job of explaining what Luke has done to incur his wrath. It's all very much true, and I can explain some of the motivations behind things. I wrote myself into a corner with Luke and he was one of the things which led to the far superior reboot.
Liquid forgot to mention this, but at the time of killing Alex, Luke had been seriously drugged up with an unknown substance by another character named Owen, who in turn was being controlled by an unknown entity (Liquid is the only who will get this reference, but in an older forum story, I had a descend vampire pulling the strings that would lead to its resurrection—it might have been something similar to that). As Liquid mentions, following the murder of Alex, Luke basically takes on a spectral form governed mostly by whims and emotions and lacking conscious thought. This was caused by the unknown substance. Anyway, Luke follows Samantha around for a bit because it feels right, but his mere presence causes ill-effects and she goes into a coma (waking a month later with supernatural abilities, which ultimately kill her when she attempts to see what happened the day Alex was murdered and Luke disappeared.) Following this, at some point, he becomes drawn to the Carsons, Clive in particular, to learns to some extent the damage he has caused that family. A similar yet less drastic effect, like what happened to Sam, happened to Clive due to Luke's presence. Had the original story went on, Clive would have developed a supernatural ability.
One should also keep in mind that Act Two of the original story would have veered significantly in terms of themes. Act Two would have seen the aftermath of an event which spread these supernatural abilities to every resident of Silicon with a high mortality rate, monstrous deformity, and the government quarantine of the town. But alas, that never came to be.
Again, I want to say that the original story isn't, in my opinion, worth reading. That is especially so now that the reboot is ongoing. If you decide to join, I really look forward to seeing the character you come up with! :^D
I have not read the original story. I'm reading the reboot, and I just finished reading the Tyler 1-07 section. I really like this story so … morefar. Although, I'm still kind of confused on its premise or plot. It's interesting, nonetheless. I already have some characters in mind that I would like to submit. Also, I have a question for those who read the original story. I noticed there is a lot of hatred for this Luke character. From what I gather, he killed Liquid's character, Alex. My question is why did he do this? Also, did he do other terrible things as well? If so, what were his motives?
Thanks for the explanation, and thanks for the welcome. I have written the notes for four characters that I plan to submit later tonight. At least one of which has some interesting abilities. But all of which have a common interest.
Let me first welcome your to Silicon County! You'll make a great addition and I'm looking forward to seeing who you submit! Now, firstly, I … morewould advise you avoid reading the original story completely. I'm afraid of it coloring opinions of characters (such as Luke, who you've brought up, and who I'll get into in a moment) and I'm generally just very unproud of how it turned out. The very least I can honestly say about it is that it had some interesting ideas and some cool moments—but fortunately, a lot of ideas that appeared in the original story and that I liked are going to be making new and drastically altered appearances in the reboot. These concepts will be improved and strengthened in the writing quality and level of planning (and it should be noted one of the original story's fatal flaws was a lack of planning; the reboot, on the other hand, has been planned extensively).
Liquid summed up the layman's perspective on what the heck i… [view original content]
Let me first welcome your to Silicon County! You'll make a great addition and I'm looking forward to seeing who you submit! Now, firstly, I … morewould advise you avoid reading the original story completely. I'm afraid of it coloring opinions of characters (such as Luke, who you've brought up, and who I'll get into in a moment) and I'm generally just very unproud of how it turned out. The very least I can honestly say about it is that it had some interesting ideas and some cool moments—but fortunately, a lot of ideas that appeared in the original story and that I liked are going to be making new and drastically altered appearances in the reboot. These concepts will be improved and strengthened in the writing quality and level of planning (and it should be noted one of the original story's fatal flaws was a lack of planning; the reboot, on the other hand, has been planned extensively).
Liquid summed up the layman's perspective on what the heck i… [view original content]
I'm sharing this on both of my stories to gauge interest and nothing more. Don't worry—I'm not planning to jump the gun on a third story. Again, this is strictly to gauge what would interest my lovely readers the most, and, should the stars align, the results will factor into any future decisions regarding what I tackle next.
Now's not a bad time for a poll...
I'm sharing this on both of my stories to gauge interest and nothing more. Don't worry—I'm not plannin… moreg to jump the gun on a third story. Again, this is strictly to gauge what would interest my lovely readers the most, and, should the stars align, the results will factor into any future decisions regarding what I tackle next.
Strawpoll: http://www.strawpoll.me/11877933
Edit: Also, this is entirely optional, but I would love to hear your opinions on why one option would interest you more than the others!
Well, this is by far the hardest choice I've ever come across here in the forums. You present three extremely interesting ideas there and I like all of them in one way or the other. Perhaps my least favourite is the supernatural apocalypse idea though, mostly because, well, Monument already has a strong post-apocalyptic scenario and while I have not even the slightest doubt that you will make it a completely different thing, I feel like the general scenario is the least unique.
Then came the hard part, because I like the Sci-fi horror and superhero ideas equally. I have thought about it for a while and came to the conclusion that I really like them equally. Both are unique scenarios that haven't really been explored before here. Horror and science fiction are shamefully absent from the stories here and while there have been a few attempts at superheroes, my knees are getting weak just thinking about what you could do with such a scenario. I really have no preference between these two, though I prefer both over the third idea. I have the feeling a superhero story has more potential to be colourful though and I'd love to see your take on a satirical story. On top of that, Kick Ass is among my favourite movies, so that speaks in its favour. However, the horror story sounds even more unique, so I really can't say that I prefer one of these over the other. In the end, I chose the superhero story, simply because it had one less vote than the other two. But well, I don't have a clear preference out of these two, so I'll be happy regardless of what wins
Now's not a bad time for a poll...
I'm sharing this on both of my stories to gauge interest and nothing more. Don't worry—I'm not plannin… moreg to jump the gun on a third story. Again, this is strictly to gauge what would interest my lovely readers the most, and, should the stars align, the results will factor into any future decisions regarding what I tackle next.
Strawpoll: http://www.strawpoll.me/11877933
Edit: Also, this is entirely optional, but I would love to hear your opinions on why one option would interest you more than the others!
Hi there Tales. Welcome to interfic readership. My names Lord, nice to meet you. I think the entire premise is supposed to be a mystery so far. Most I can garner is weird things happen in quiet town. But I think it would be fun to figure it out. Also the story in general seems great, so il look forward to enjoying it with you.
[ Also, I have a question for those who read the original story. I noticed there is a lot of hatred for this Luke character. From what I gather, he killed Liquid's character, Alex. My question is why did he do this? Also, did he do other terrible things as well? If so, what were his motives?]
Oh god this again. Well let me try explain it to you the best I can. If I am wrong at anything someone please correct me. It all started when Nohope was coming up with the original drafts for the story. XSensus was one if the first to post his character Luke, a drug addicted teenager who was bullied at school. Therefore Luke was given huge role. He was set to kickstart the plot with his disappearance after he murdered another teenager who he had fights with. Liquid, who was still then relatively new to interfics, made the Carson family. Now Liquid tends to be extremely connected to his characters. His favorite 2 where the children, Rachel and Alex and he had huge hopes for their potential in the story. Nohope, seeing how Alex was almost a perfect match for the murder victim, inserted him in the role. I don't think anyone can argue with me when I say it was an absolute disaster.
It ended up being probably the worst decision of the original story, which was terrible since it was the thing that drove the plot. Alex was no longer a character, but a plot device that moved other characters along. He did not show up for the entire chapter till his corpse and from then on could just be replaced with 'that kid Luke killed'. As you can imagine Liquid went absolutely insane. At first he went on a witch hunt for Alex's killer, Luke was ofcourse prime suspect at the time so most of his anger went to him. He did however consider other characters, including my beloved Lana to be the killer. This did lead to some good moments but mostly some of us were afraid Liquid might vote to kill or harm a character if he thought they were the killer. When it was eventually revealed Liquid target him like an assassin. Luke, to him, became a physical representation of all the evil and horrible things in existence. I believe he once compared him to Hitler and Satan and in his eyes Luke was worse.
Liquid became absolutely revenge obsessed , wanting nothing more than to kill Luke in the most violent, horrific, painful way possible. Every scene and development Luke got hit him harder because it reminded him how Alex got none. Even when Nohope attempted to make Luke absolutely blameless of everything, Liquid's revenge driven mind would twist it as a way to hate him more. Therefore, most readers actively tried to avoid the issue. Another reader named Janitor disliked Luke a bit for his own reasons but didn't always agree with Liquid. XSensus who was also reading the story, was very uncomfortable with Liquid, but remained quiet for the most part. So, Agent Z46 became Luke's main defense and argued with Liquid a lot about it. And then there was me at the center of it all. My voting philosophy was to never kill a character, so Liquid basically had to beg me to side with him. However after a while I kept sticking to my moral views and we just ended up debating to the end. Eventually XSensus spoke up about how bothered he was with what Liquid was doing, and Liquid felt really bad and it just kinda died out from there. Liquid did still hate Luke's guts till the reboot though.
As to why he did this. Well judging from your questions before this you probably had this view of Luke as some sort of murderous villain. But I will tell you right now, despite anything Liquid might say, Luke was absolutely blameless. Not only because he really didn't want to kill Alex, but because NoHope went out of his way to make sure he had absolutely no fault in it. Luke was kidnapped by some mysterious guy named Owen and injected with some kind of super serum. This basically made him completely lose his mind and shoot Alex for reasons that barely qualify a punch. Then he became this bizzare spirit thing and ran off.
The answer to your second and third questions is a lot harder. You see after he killed Alex and became a spirit ghost thing Luke slowly became less and less of a character and more of a force of nature. First he saved some cops by possessing a drug dealer and killing all of his buddies. Then he became this animal spirit thing that needed to be 'controled' according to Owen, who was pretending to be a good guy at the time, and he also had to be reminded of who he was for some reason. Then he might have been some weird ghost orb thing annoying Clive and making him think he was crazy. Also I see people bringing up Samantha but that was the voters fault since her death came because a hasty decision they made to find out who the killer was. Besides the cop thing he never really seemed like he had any choice to do, well anything really.
Overall as stated above the Luke thing was an absolute disaster. It was the worst creative decision Nohope has ever made and I hope it stays that way. Nohope himself felt horrible over the whole thing and I'm convinced it was one of the driving forces behind the reboot. So I think its best if we just leave it behind us and look forward to the reboot, where hopefully nothing as problematic will happen.
I have not read the original story. I'm reading the reboot, and I just finished reading the Tyler 1-07 section. I really like this story so … morefar. Although, I'm still kind of confused on its premise or plot. It's interesting, nonetheless. I already have some characters in mind that I would like to submit. Also, I have a question for those who read the original story. I noticed there is a lot of hatred for this Luke character. From what I gather, he killed Liquid's character, Alex. My question is why did he do this? Also, did he do other terrible things as well? If so, what were his motives?
This was a hard choice for me. It was between scifi horror and supernatural post apocalypse. Both options seemed really intriguing. I ultimately went with scifi horror because that seemed like one that has probably not been tried yet, in the forums.
Now's not a bad time for a poll...
I'm sharing this on both of my stories to gauge interest and nothing more. Don't worry—I'm not plannin… moreg to jump the gun on a third story. Again, this is strictly to gauge what would interest my lovely readers the most, and, should the stars align, the results will factor into any future decisions regarding what I tackle next.
Strawpoll: http://www.strawpoll.me/11877933
Edit: Also, this is entirely optional, but I would love to hear your opinions on why one option would interest you more than the others!
This was a hard choice for me. It was between scifi horror and supernatural post apocalypse. Both options seemed really intriguing. I ultimately went with scifi horror because that seemed like one that has probably not been tried yet, in the forums.
Yes, I have checked out a few. I checked out the forumlands one. Liquid said it was sort of a reboot of an older story. I'm obviously reading the reboot for this story. Before I joined the forums, I read some of Liquid's forum of thrones story, but I'm way behind on it now. I also use to read, a long time ago before I joined the forums, the walking dead story by LeetheProfessional. There is one story that should be updated in January, by FluidstickyBen. That story is a Game of Thrones Story that takes place sixty years, in the future, from the books/tv show. However, the story I am most heavily invested in, partially because it has many characters I submitted, is Nymeria's War, by Wildlingking.
Yes, I have checked out a few. I checked out the forumlands one. Liquid said it was sort of a reboot of an older story. I'm obviously readin… moreg the reboot for this story. Before I joined the forums, I read some of Liquid's forum of thrones story, but I'm way behind on it now. I also use to read, a long time ago before I joined the forums, the walking dead story by LeetheProfessional. There is one story that should be updated in January, by FluidstickyBen. That story is a Game of Thrones Story that takes place sixty years, in the future, from the books/tv show. However, the story I am most heavily invested in, partially because it has many characters I submitted, is Nymeria's War, by Wildlingking.
Thanks for your explanation. It's interesting to see the different perspectives, on the situation. It helps build a more complete picture of what happened.
Hi there Tales. Welcome to interfic readership. My names Lord, nice to meet you. I think the entire premise is supposed to be a mystery so f… morear. Most I can garner is weird things happen in quiet town. But I think it would be fun to figure it out. Also the story in general seems great, so il look forward to enjoying it with you.
[ Also, I have a question for those who read the original story. I noticed there is a lot of hatred for this Luke character. From what I gather, he killed Liquid's character, Alex. My question is why did he do this? Also, did he do other terrible things as well? If so, what were his motives?]
Oh god this again. Well let me try explain it to you the best I can. If I am wrong at anything someone please correct me. It all started when Nohope was coming up with the original drafts for the story. XSensus was one if the first to post his character Luke, a drug addicted teenager who was bullied at school. Therefore Luke … [view original content]
I won't let them influence me. It is a reboot with rebooted characters after all. I was just curious about Luke because people were talking about him after the reboot was announced and I wanted to understand what he did in the story for people to dislike/hate him.
Reading Liquids answer I can tell you already that he forgot a big fact. Sam died because of a vote, a vote he promoted and was a part of. Infact looking back I was the only person who didn't risk it, partially because I hadn't caught up, partially because I thought that even if I voted against it wouldn't matter and partially because I didn't think it was a very good idea. I did still feel guilty though. So again the readers are responsible.
Well, a couple of months ago, before the reboot basically I would have said that his very existence is already a terrible thing. But well, e… moreven objectively, there happened more than "just" murdering Alex. First, there were the terrible consequences of this, which probably ruined the lives of Alex' family, his father and sister. Second, Luke became some sort of an incorporeal being after the murder and in this form, he apparently triggered a heart attack for Alex' father, he definitely attacked and severely wounded the town sherriff and his actions directly led to the death of his best friend, Samantha. But well, at least from my point of view, murdering Alex is already enough to justify the amount of hatred I had for him. He made it very personal with this.
Just so you know, I wasn't trying to minimize what he did to Alex. I just wanted to know if he did other terrible things. For example, how did his actions lead to the death of Samantha?
Liquid.......Sam died because you and the others were so desperate to find out who the killer was you would risk her. So you are technically more to blame that Sam herself since you made that choice for her, even if you were pretty sure she wouldn't die.
I know, I know, I wasn't implying that either, no worries It is by far the worst thing he did in my opinion but well, as said above, he did… more a couple of additional terrible things as well, which only further fuelled my hatred. With Samantha, I see her as one of his victims as well. Before he settled to stalk Clive in his incorporeal form, he did the same to Samantha. However, just being near people in this form had drastic effects on them. Clive got a serious heart attack, but Samantha had even more severe problems, since she got sent into a coma for several weeks (during which the story had a timeskip). After she awoke, she received a strange power, namely clairvoyance and it is highly likely that this was a direct result of Luke interacting with her. Ultimately, she used this power to find out just what exactly happened that day, with Luke and Alex. However, she only succeeded at getting a glimpse at Luke shooting Alex before this power end… [view original content]
No mention of Owen? Ok yeah its about time I asked. Liquid how come you despised Pre-Luke (Pre-reboot) but never hated Pre-Owen as much? In my eyes Owen was more to blame than anyone for everything that happened from Alex, Sam, exc... So why does he never gain your wrath?
Hey Tales! Welcome, I'm glad to see you here! You surely picked one seriously amazing story with this and one of my current favourites Don'… moret worry about being confused though, I think we're all having this problem right now. Since the story has just started, there are a lot of questions that have just been opened, so that is of course only natural. I guess other than Hope, no one can give you good answers to that one for now, but I am sure that everything will be answered in time. I think it can be said that the story has and will have some strong mystery elements in it, including happenings that are most likely outright supernatural in their origin (like Clifford or the disappearance of Clive's children), all of it in the rural Silicon County, all of it happening to ordinary people. For now, I don't know more and can only speculate, with the hopes of getting more answers in the future. It is a lot of fun, I'm sure you're going to enjoy it!
… [view original content]
[To expand on Liquid's summary, this story is set in a midwestern county that, on the surface, appears to be a normal (if a tad backwater) modern day county encompassing three towns.]
WHAT??!!! 3 towns?! I always thought the County was one town. It's how I always referenced it Prime. Dang it. What re these 3 towns then?
[ Eight to twelve people explore a strange world in their dreams, home to frightful things, some of which possess a disturbing level of control over the county they live in.]
YAY PLOT!!!!! This finally bring a couple of theories some basis. Currently I'm leaning towards dream demon making them to accept a reality that has everything they lost for some unknown reason. I also believe they are currently in the dream realm.
[Liquid forgot to mention this, but at the time of killing Alex, Luke had been seriously drugged up with an unknown substance by another character named Owen, who in turn was being controlled by an unknown entity (Liquid is the only who will get this reference, but in an older forum story, I had a descend vampire pulling the strings that would lead to its resurrection—it might have been something similar to that). ]
WHAT??!!! So Owen didn't have a choice either? I thought he was just some crazy scientist obsessed with powers or finding so me ancient being. You know for a story that puts such high emphasis on choices, you really seem to enjoy the irony of not giving the villains any.
Let me first welcome your to Silicon County! You'll make a great addition and I'm looking forward to seeing who you submit! Now, firstly, I … morewould advise you avoid reading the original story completely. I'm afraid of it coloring opinions of characters (such as Luke, who you've brought up, and who I'll get into in a moment) and I'm generally just very unproud of how it turned out. The very least I can honestly say about it is that it had some interesting ideas and some cool moments—but fortunately, a lot of ideas that appeared in the original story and that I liked are going to be making new and drastically altered appearances in the reboot. These concepts will be improved and strengthened in the writing quality and level of planning (and it should be noted one of the original story's fatal flaws was a lack of planning; the reboot, on the other hand, has been planned extensively).
Liquid summed up the layman's perspective on what the heck i… [view original content]
So, I am not really sure if I should have replied to this, but I feel the need to make some things clear, because I feel that this post is portraying me in the most negative light possible. I'm not really sure what you are trying to achieve by this, but well, I think I absolutely should clarify a few aspects of this. First of all, let me make it clear that I am not angry at anything you have written, even if I possibly sound that way, which I honestly always do. I'm calm, very calm, I just feel represented in the completely wrong light here.
Liquid, who was still then relatively new to interfics, made the Carson family.
I strongly object, because you couldn't be more wrong there. Silicon has started in June 2015. I started heavily participating in interactive stories around June 2014, when the first wave of them hit the forums. By the time Silicon started, I think I have rightly considered myself to be the most experienced interfic reader in the forums save for supersagig, considering that I have participated in dozens of stories at that point. You do remember that we first met in the original Forumlands in July 2014, don't you? You also remember that we have both heavily participated in all of Saltlick's stories ever since they first started in September 2014, right? TheFurryOne's Midnight Hollow? Monument? Hell, Forum of Thrones started half a year before Silicon started, so I really don't think I have been new to interactive stories in the slightest.
As you can imagine Liquid went absolutely insane.
Well, thank you for your input there. As much as I'd like to disagree, I fully know that I have been far from rational in my hatred at Luke. However, I also know for a fact that this has been a slow process and that my anger grew only together with my frustration at a lack of answers. It was not pure rage, but a mixture of anger, grief and frustration. Let's just say, I do have a problem going past the second stage of grief, because I do not bargain, I don't get depressed and I don't accept what I hate.
He did however consider other characters, including my beloved Lana to be the killer. This did lead to some good moments but mostly some of us were afraid Liquid might vote to kill or harm a character if he thought they were the killer.
As far as I know, Lana has been the only innocent person I ever, half-jokingly, brought up as a potential suspect. As far as I know, you have also been the only person that has been afraid I would, without any sort of proof, try to get innocent characters killed. Yes, I was grasping at straws with Lana, but I think I admitted this pretty early into this theory and only continued with it because it made a strange amount of sense for a while, even though I outright told you I would not try and get any character killed without proof. I can remember for a fact that we had a brief discussion about this, which ended with me spelling it out to you that I won't do anything to any character before their guilt is proven, especially not someone who has barely ever been a subject, such as Lana. Even then, the bulk of my hatred was reserved for Luke and Owen, who were both proven to be guilty and who had both heavily been hinted at being guilty before that point.
Even when Nohope attempted to make Luke absolutely blameless of everything, Liquid's revenge driven mind would twist it as a way to hate him more.
I don't think I had to twist anything with my "revenge-driven mind", because the only reason to hate Luke I needed was that he murdered Alex. I think I made it clear very early that I won't have any redemption for that character, so there was no need for me to twist anything. It was pure hatred against Luke from the beginning to the end and every additional relation did nothing to make this hatred stronger or weaker, it only gave me more material to rage at.
Eventually XSensus spoke up about how bothered he was with what Liquid was doing, and Liquid felt really bad and it just kinda died out from there.
I'm rather sure that was not what he said and I know for a fact that I haven't felt bad about anything Luke-related. I never wanted to make anyone feel bad about this, which was why I time and again put emphasis on the fact that my anger has never been directed at a user here in the forums. I know that xSensus eventually gave his opinion on the topic, in which I assured him that I hold not even the tiniest piece of anger against him for submitting this character. The hatred also only started to die out when Hope informed me about his plans to reboot the story, after which my anger really had no foundation anymore. And let me be clear, I still hate pre-reboot Luke with all my heart, but I think it is only fair to give the rebooted version of Luke a chance to replace my opinion on the character, so I am a lot calmer about things now.
But I will tell you right now, despite anything Liquid might say, Luke was absolutely blameless. Not only because he really didn't want to kill Alex, but because NoHope went out of his way to make sure he had absolutely no fault in it
First of all, let's really not go there and have that discussion again. In my post to Tales above, I told him that your stance on the topic is not entirely baseless, but saying that Luke has been entirely blameless is wrong even when you consider him to be not as guilty as others. He pointed a gun at Alex, he pulled the trigger and he didn't do a thing to help. I'd say that is the polar opposite of being entirely blameless. At the very least, it is involuntary manslaughter, at its worst it can be considered first degree murder on purpose. And even then I see it as objectively false to say that Hope went out of his way to make sure that Luke has no fault in what happened. In my opinion, Hope left this deliberately ambiguous. If he would have tried to make Luke be innocent, he wouldn't have put him as the killer in the first place. I always admitted that my opinion is influenced by personal feelings and in no way an objective truth, so at least do me the favour and don't try to paint your personal opinion as somehow more correct than mine.
Besides the cop thing he never really seemed like he had any choice to do, well anything really.
And that is another thing that has been highly ambiguous. We never even got a hint at how conscious Luke is and how much he even realizes his own actions. For me, it seems like he was in full control of everything. For you, it seemed different but the fact is that the story got rebooted before we received any answer. It has been at least implied that he consciously stalked Sam and Clive. Sam was an accident, but after seeing how negatively she reacted to his presence, he continued to stalk Clive in the same way and that is just inexcusable.
It was the worst creative decision Nohope has ever made and I hope it stays that way.
And that is another thing I disagree with. It was a creative decision Hope made in his own story and as such it does not deserve to be called the worst creative decision he ever made. That I ended up disliking this decision doesn't make it any less viable. I only ever hated the character of Luke and his actions in the story, but not the creative decisions behind this. On top of that, none of us know the full picture about the original story, even if Hope published a few of his thoughts in that document that showed his old plans. As a result, I don't think this decision can be judged as positive or negative in any way.
So, all things considerd, this is not only a very heated topic to discuss and one I do not wish to bring up again, but also a topic where I strongly feel that there is no objective right or wrong. You know where I stand, I know where you stand, but that does not mean that either of us is objectively right there. Just because you feel that Luke is not to blame for his actions doesn't mean that my hatred for Luke is any less justified. Similarly, just because I hate Luke to degrees I myself can't even fully imagine doesn't mean that your opinion is wrong and without reason. So please, let us not have that sort of debate again, because I guarantee that nothing good is going to come out of this.
Hi there Tales. Welcome to interfic readership. My names Lord, nice to meet you. I think the entire premise is supposed to be a mystery so f… morear. Most I can garner is weird things happen in quiet town. But I think it would be fun to figure it out. Also the story in general seems great, so il look forward to enjoying it with you.
[ Also, I have a question for those who read the original story. I noticed there is a lot of hatred for this Luke character. From what I gather, he killed Liquid's character, Alex. My question is why did he do this? Also, did he do other terrible things as well? If so, what were his motives?]
Oh god this again. Well let me try explain it to you the best I can. If I am wrong at anything someone please correct me. It all started when Nohope was coming up with the original drafts for the story. XSensus was one if the first to post his character Luke, a drug addicted teenager who was bullied at school. Therefore Luke … [view original content]
I never hated Owen that much because he is not the one who murdered Alex. He did not pull a gun out, point it at Alex and pull the trigger, he hasn't even been present at the scene. I think I have made it clear that I hated him almost as much as I hated Luke, but with far less passion and emotion in it. There is also the fact that he caused Luke unimaginable agony, which I saw as a redeeming trait for him. So, you see, he did gain my wrath, but in a far colder way. In the end, I wanted him to suffer about the same fate I wished for Luke, which I am sure I outright stated somewhere. It's just that I don't consider him to be as guilty as Luke for what happened.
No mention of Owen? Ok yeah its about time I asked. Liquid how come you despised Pre-Luke (Pre-reboot) but never hated Pre-Owen as much? In … moremy eyes Owen was more to blame than anyone for everything that happened from Alex, Sam, exc... So why does he never gain your wrath?
That might be true from an out-of-story perspective, but in the story, there has been no collective of voters that took control of Sam and forced her to use her powers. Second, are you implying that Sam herself is to blame for dying? It should be noted that there have been not even the tiniest hints at her powers being harmful for her, much less that they are going to kill her, save for Owen's highly shady warning, after it was made clear that Owen has something to hide and likely a personal interest in preventing the killer from being caught. So, from a purely in-story perspective, the ones to blame are Luke, for giving Sam these dangerous powers and Owen for not directly warning her. If I start blaming the voters for getting Sam killed, I'd have to start blaming xSensus for submitting Luke and Hope for writing the story into that direction. This is something I'm not doing and never have.
However, I am more than just a little bit unsure what you are trying to achieve here. You know just as much as I do that this has been a very heated debate, so I think I am not the only one who feels like stirring it up again is a terrible move.
Liquid.......Sam died because you and the others were so desperate to find out who the killer was you would risk her. So you are technically… more more to blame that Sam herself since you made that choice for her, even if you were pretty sure she wouldn't die.
I'm sorry my questions caused so much drama and old feelings to flare up. That was never my intention. Now, however, I'm curious about Owen but I'm not sure if asking about him or his influence on other characters would cause any drama.
So, I am not really sure if I should have replied to this, but I feel the need to make some things clear, because I feel that this post is p… moreortraying me in the most negative light possible. I'm not really sure what you are trying to achieve by this, but well, I think I absolutely should clarify a few aspects of this. First of all, let me make it clear that I am not angry at anything you have written, even if I possibly sound that way, which I honestly always do. I'm calm, very calm, I just feel represented in the completely wrong light here.
Liquid, who was still then relatively new to interfics, made the Carson family.
I strongly object, because you couldn't be more wrong there. Silicon has started in June 2015. I started heavily participating in interactive stories around June 2014, when the first wave of them hit the forums. By the time Silicon started, I think I have rightly considered myself to be the most experienced inter… [view original content]
I don't really think you stirred up any drama with your questions, no need to be sorry. You just asked a very complicated question that has been the point of many arguments in the past, which you couldn't have known, so any sort of answer is guaranteed to be equally complicated. As you have seen from the replies you got, there is no clear answer to them and much of it goes down to personal opinions on the characters and the topic of revenge in general. I ardently stand by my positions, but I know that Lord and Agent have their own on the matter which they are no less passionate about. Hope has given the most neutral thoughts on the matter, so you should consider his point as the ones that are objectively the most true, but I believe that both, Lord and I, have clear foundations for our opinions as well.
With Owen, the problem is that he is one of the biggest mysteries of the original story, so depending on your question, it might not even be possible to give you an answer. Before the story started, he abducted Luke and tortured him with some chemicals, which caused Luke to panic, but likely also triggered the supernatural powers he displayed later, like being this incorporeal being. His reason for doing that is not known. Until Hope just revealed it, it wasn't even clear that he was controlled by some dark force. Afterwards, he was first introduced into the story as a shady potential ally to Samantha after she awoke from her coma and he introduced her to her powers and taught her basically how to use them. Together, they found out where Luke's body is located and they tried to save him. Ultimately, Owen succeeded on doing that on his own, but we don't know his reasons for doing so. It is possible that the dark entity behind him had a hand in all of his actions, but not even the slightest thing is known about that one. He also warned Sam not to use her powers to find out what happened between Luke and Alex, but did not specify why she shouldn't do so, so the utmost majority of readers assumed that he just wanted to hide his own involvement in the events of this day and we ignored his warning. Ultimately, I would say that the Owen from the original story is even more of a mystery than Luke. If he truly was controlled by some dark force, then I can't even give you a clear answer on his personality and stuff like that.
I'm sorry my questions caused so much drama and old feelings to flare up. That was never my intention. Now, however, I'm curious about Owen but I'm not sure if asking about him or his influence on other characters would cause any drama.
Comments
[Tell the truth] Well, it seems Clive went from whiny to insane.
Wait... whoa, wait, that was crazy. This part just gave my theory about a parrallel universe far more credibility. However, just as you confirmed before, it can't be that simple. There has to be more to it than just a mere parrallel universe that is somehow getting all mixed up. But this is a step forwards. This proves, once again, that Rachel and likely Alex as well exist somewhere. Perhaps it's even different than I thought before. Maybe it's not them that are missing, perhaps something is wrong with Clive. Maybe he is somehow experiencing the wrong reality and in certain situations, like him being stressed out and tired, he kind of mixes these realities up a little bit. Whatever it is, it can't be healthy for him, but I feel like we are so close to getting an answer. I also wonder what this thing about the satchel in the room was, since you put some emphasis on it. It seems to have been something that was not supposed to be there, something that caused Clive to snap out of this vision.
[Tell the truth.]
Okay... lying to his wife is always a bad thing to do, that much is for sure. It is my belief that they should be honest to each other. But there is more to this. If Clive has been experiencing these strange visions, then it is not too far fetched to think that Melissa might had them as well. Perhaps she won't think that he is crazy, but will believe him. And in that case, perhaps she knows how to help. We know Clive is not crazy, at least most likely not. What he saw is real in some way. And Melissa should learn about it as well.
[Tell the truth.]
Better not to lie to your own wife, Clive.
[Tell the truth.] I dont see a good reason to lie. And like Liquid said, maybe Melissa believes him and can help him make sense of this. I have my own theory but I doubt it is right. I think maybe Clive is the problem here and not his children. This could be a dream he has and this strange things that happen could be him trying to wake up from it.
When you get excited after noticing you have a lot of notifications, thinking you got a lot of replies only to find out it's just @janitor commenting on every thread you're following.
I'm just joking btw
Lol. Multiverse is getting a part soon anyway so don't be disappointed for too long.
That's good to hear. ^_^
Sorry for the false alarm this will cause lol
I feel the need to let you know that Silicon County is going to be on the briefest break. Maybe 'break' isn't the correct word. Just a slight delay, really. Last weekend, I got caught up with the local Nutcracker stuff and had to attend all the rehearsals even though I had a very small part. It was fun and interesting but also incredibly time consuming. It's over now, so...
The continuation of Tyler's storyline is coming soonest, Clive's part is next after that, and Thomas's part will conclude things this chapter.
I have not read the original story. I'm reading the reboot, and I just finished reading the Tyler 1-07 section. I really like this story so far. Although, I'm still kind of confused on its premise or plot. It's interesting, nonetheless. I already have some characters in mind that I would like to submit. Also, I have a question for those who read the original story. I noticed there is a lot of hatred for this Luke character. From what I gather, he killed Liquid's character, Alex. My question is why did he do this? Also, did he do other terrible things as well? If so, what were his motives?
Hey Tales! Welcome, I'm glad to see you here! You surely picked one seriously amazing story with this and one of my current favourites
Don't worry about being confused though, I think we're all having this problem right now. Since the story has just started, there are a lot of questions that have just been opened, so that is of course only natural. I guess other than Hope, no one can give you good answers to that one for now, but I am sure that everything will be answered in time. I think it can be said that the story has and will have some strong mystery elements in it, including happenings that are most likely outright supernatural in their origin (like Clifford or the disappearance of Clive's children), all of it in the rural Silicon County, all of it happening to ordinary people. For now, I don't know more and can only speculate, with the hopes of getting more answers in the future. It is a lot of fun, I'm sure you're going to enjoy it!
Now, with Luke, he is a special case and a very heated point of debate in the original story. In fact, I hope that this won't bring up some of these old emotions, which I am glad have faded by now. First of all, I think I am the only one who had this genuine hatred towards him. As far as I know, janitor merely disliked him and I'm pretty sure neither Lord nor Agent, who usually debated with me about this case, actually outright liked him, they only disagreed with the way I wanted to deal with him. Correct me if I'm wrong here, guys!
Anyways, since I had this incredibly intense hatred for Luke, I'm perhaps not the most objective person to answer, though I will try regardless, since I guess that my viewpoint might give some clarity. My hatred came entirely from emotion and not from logic, so if you are looking for an objective and logical answer, Hope is the one you have to ask. That said, my hatred has mostly faded down ever since the reboot got announced. After several minor hints from Hope, I am at the very least genuinely curious where he plans on taking this character in this reboot. Chances are good that he will be entirely different from the character he used to be in the original story. By now, I only feel some slight remaining resentment for this character whom I had such a strong antipathy against and I expect this to further fade once the reboot Luke gets a chance at replacing my mental image of the original Luke.
This was a major point of discussion between me and the others in the original story. In my opinion, there has been no reason and no excuse. He and Alex accidentally bumped into each other, at which point Alex angrily yelled at him. Both also had a history of getting into fights. Luke then pulled a gun and shot him in the shoulder, which caused Alex to fall into the river and drown, while Luke did literally nothing to help. To various degrees, the other readers had different opinions and will probably give different answers here, but at least in my opinion, there has not been even the tiniest of mitigating circumstances, even if I must admit that the arguments the others might be able to bring are not baseless either. For me, the Luke from the original story was pure evil because of his actions and no reason could have possibly redeemed him in the slightest.
Well, a couple of months ago, before the reboot basically I would have said that his very existence is already a terrible thing. But well, even objectively, there happened more than "just" murdering Alex. First, there were the terrible consequences of this, which probably ruined the lives of Alex' family, his father and sister. Second, Luke became some sort of an incorporeal being after the murder and in this form, he apparently triggered a heart attack for Alex' father, he definitely attacked and severely wounded the town sherriff and his actions directly led to the death of his best friend, Samantha. But well, at least from my point of view, murdering Alex is already enough to justify the amount of hatred I had for him. He made it very personal with this.
That's the problem, we don't know. The story got rebooted before it could get there. Luke spent a majority of his time in the story as this incorporeal force of nature and just at the very end of the old story, he got back from this. Apparently, there would have been a confrontation between him and Alex' sister Rachel, during which we would have probably learned more about his motivations, but since it never happens, I can only speculate. We don't know exactly why he murdered Alex, why he stalked Clive until the man had a heart attack from his presence and why he attacked the sherriff (having taken possession of a wolf just for this purpose, on top of everything). However, even I have to admit that he certainly never intended to get Samantha killed, which doesn't change the fact that it has been a terrible and direct consequence of his actions.
I hope that answers things from my perspective. I seriously could go on for hours about why I hate Luke so much, so if you have additional questions about it, don't hesitate to ask me and I will try my best to make things more clear
Just so you know, I wasn't trying to minimize what he did to Alex. I just wanted to know if he did other terrible things. For example, how did his actions lead to the death of Samantha?
I know, I know, I wasn't implying that either, no worries
It is by far the worst thing he did in my opinion but well, as said above, he did a couple of additional terrible things as well, which only further fuelled my hatred. With Samantha, I see her as one of his victims as well. Before he settled to stalk Clive in his incorporeal form, he did the same to Samantha. However, just being near people in this form had drastic effects on them. Clive got a serious heart attack, but Samantha had even more severe problems, since she got sent into a coma for several weeks (during which the story had a timeskip). After she awoke, she received a strange power, namely clairvoyance and it is highly likely that this was a direct result of Luke interacting with her. Ultimately, she used this power to find out just what exactly happened that day, with Luke and Alex. However, she only succeeded at getting a glimpse at Luke shooting Alex before this power ended up killing her. The exact reason why she had this power and why it killed her hasn't been explained in the original story, since it hasn't proceeded to the point where such answers would be given. It is unlikely that Luke intended to get her killed, but even then I hold him responsible for it as well.
Not to bring back old debates but... I think it's really unfair to blame Samantha's death on Luke. Plus Owen told her not to fuck around with her powers but she did it anyway.
I believe, I understand now. Thanks for your answers Liquid.
Well, I disagree on that... and we're having a Luke debate again, haven't we? Let me try to keep this one more objective
Anyways, I do disagree with this. Not only from my own feelings about Luke, but especially on a purely logical level. Of course, it is not first degree murder or something like that, but Luke can still be blamed for Samantha's death. There is a certain criminal offence that is called involuntary manslaughter, which I see him as guilty of in this case. This is usually applied when someone's actions led to the death of another person without any intention of killing or even just harming this person. I mean, not even I can claim that Luke murdered her on purpose and in cold blood, which he clearly did not, but he still had quite the hand in her death as well and this shouldn't be ignored. Of course, Owen is just as guilty in my opinion and his warning has been extremely vague at best, but that doesn't change the fact that Luke's interaction with her put her into this situation where her powers ended up killing her. Without Luke's actions, Samantha would have survived and that means he can be blamed for it.
You're welcome! As I said, I am hardly the most objective person in this case and me and Agent had some pretty big debates about exactly these questions, though I hope my viewpoint helped. If you have any further questions, I can try to answer them, although Hope should be able to give you a more neutral, unbiased view on the topic.
Let me first welcome your to Silicon County! You'll make a great addition and I'm looking forward to seeing who you submit! Now, firstly, I would advise you avoid reading the original story completely. I'm afraid of it coloring opinions of characters (such as Luke, who you've brought up, and who I'll get into in a moment) and I'm generally just very unproud of how it turned out. The very least I can honestly say about it is that it had some interesting ideas and some cool moments—but fortunately, a lot of ideas that appeared in the original story and that I liked are going to be making new and drastically altered appearances in the reboot. These concepts will be improved and strengthened in the writing quality and level of planning (and it should be noted one of the original story's fatal flaws was a lack of planning; the reboot, on the other hand, has been planned extensively).
Liquid summed up the layman's perspective on what the heck is going on very well. I should mention that the genre isn't easily placed because it will jump genres a lot of times. I can name a few quite easily that will be explored: Mystery, Horror, Adventure, and most notably Fantasy. To expand on Liquid's summary, this story is set in a midwestern county that, on the surface, appears to be a normal (if a tad backwater) modern day county encompassing three towns. Alas, some things are amiss, and the continuity (evident to the readers; dawning on just one character so far) is just plain wrong, most notably in the case of Clive's missing children, Rachel and Alexander, who seem to have just been written off completely. An explanation exists, of course. In addition to the continuity hiccups, there is also at the very least one supernatural entity (dubbed Clifford, like the Big Red Dog) that has been glimpsed by Tyler. Again, an explanation exists for this creature's existence. Now... I'm gonna dip into some stuff that I've been wanting to reveal as Silicon County's premise: Eight to twelve people explore a strange world in their dreams, home to frightful things, some of which possess a disturbing level of control over the county they live in.
It's a lot more complicated than that, but say more would spoil what I have in store.
Liquid has done an exceptional job of explaining what Luke has done to incur his wrath. It's all very much true, and I can explain some of the motivations behind things. I wrote myself into a corner with Luke and he was one of the things which led to the far superior reboot.
Liquid forgot to mention this, but at the time of killing Alex, Luke had been seriously drugged up with an unknown substance by another character named Owen, who in turn was being controlled by an unknown entity (Liquid is the only who will get this reference, but in an older forum story, I had a descend vampire pulling the strings that would lead to its resurrection—it might have been something similar to that). As Liquid mentions, following the murder of Alex, Luke basically takes on a spectral form governed mostly by whims and emotions and lacking conscious thought. This was caused by the unknown substance. Anyway, Luke follows Samantha around for a bit because it feels right, but his mere presence causes ill-effects and she goes into a coma (waking a month later with supernatural abilities, which ultimately kill her when she attempts to see what happened the day Alex was murdered and Luke disappeared.) Following this, at some point, he becomes drawn to the Carsons, Clive in particular, to learns to some extent the damage he has caused that family. A similar yet less drastic effect, like what happened to Sam, happened to Clive due to Luke's presence. Had the original story went on, Clive would have developed a supernatural ability.
One should also keep in mind that Act Two of the original story would have veered significantly in terms of themes. Act Two would have seen the aftermath of an event which spread these supernatural abilities to every resident of Silicon with a high mortality rate, monstrous deformity, and the government quarantine of the town. But alas, that never came to be.
Again, I want to say that the original story isn't, in my opinion, worth reading. That is especially so now that the reboot is ongoing. If you decide to join, I really look forward to seeing the character you come up with! :^D
Thanks for the explanation, and thanks for the welcome. I have written the notes for four characters that I plan to submit later tonight. At least one of which has some interesting abilities. But all of which have a common interest.
The above comment is for you NoHopeLeft. It contains a very slight spoiler regarding one of the characters I'm going to submit.
If you need to speak privately, I suggest doing so by PM! :^)
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
Now's not a bad time for a poll...
I'm sharing this on both of my stories to gauge interest and nothing more. Don't worry—I'm not planning to jump the gun on a third story. Again, this is strictly to gauge what would interest my lovely readers the most, and, should the stars align, the results will factor into any future decisions regarding what I tackle next.
Strawpoll: http://www.strawpoll.me/11877933
Edit: Also, this is entirely optional, but I would love to hear your opinions on why one option would interest you more than the others!
Sci-fi horror seems the most interesting and unique one. I love all the options are completely tied at the moment.
I sent you a pm. I also submitted my four characters. Have you seen them yet?
Well, this is by far the hardest choice I've ever come across here in the forums. You present three extremely interesting ideas there and I like all of them in one way or the other. Perhaps my least favourite is the supernatural apocalypse idea though, mostly because, well, Monument already has a strong post-apocalyptic scenario and while I have not even the slightest doubt that you will make it a completely different thing, I feel like the general scenario is the least unique.
Then came the hard part, because I like the Sci-fi horror and superhero ideas equally. I have thought about it for a while and came to the conclusion that I really like them equally. Both are unique scenarios that haven't really been explored before here. Horror and science fiction are shamefully absent from the stories here and while there have been a few attempts at superheroes, my knees are getting weak just thinking about what you could do with such a scenario. I really have no preference between these two, though I prefer both over the third idea. I have the feeling a superhero story has more potential to be colourful though and I'd love to see your take on a satirical story. On top of that, Kick Ass is among my favourite movies, so that speaks in its favour. However, the horror story sounds even more unique, so I really can't say that I prefer one of these over the other. In the end, I chose the superhero story, simply because it had one less vote than the other two. But well, I don't have a clear preference out of these two, so I'll be happy regardless of what wins
Hi there Tales. Welcome to interfic readership. My names Lord, nice to meet you. I think the entire premise is supposed to be a mystery so far. Most I can garner is weird things happen in quiet town. But I think it would be fun to figure it out. Also the story in general seems great, so il look forward to enjoying it with you.
[ Also, I have a question for those who read the original story. I noticed there is a lot of hatred for this Luke character. From what I gather, he killed Liquid's character, Alex. My question is why did he do this? Also, did he do other terrible things as well? If so, what were his motives?]
Oh god this again. Well let me try explain it to you the best I can. If I am wrong at anything someone please correct me. It all started when Nohope was coming up with the original drafts for the story. XSensus was one if the first to post his character Luke, a drug addicted teenager who was bullied at school. Therefore Luke was given huge role. He was set to kickstart the plot with his disappearance after he murdered another teenager who he had fights with. Liquid, who was still then relatively new to interfics, made the Carson family. Now Liquid tends to be extremely connected to his characters. His favorite 2 where the children, Rachel and Alex and he had huge hopes for their potential in the story. Nohope, seeing how Alex was almost a perfect match for the murder victim, inserted him in the role. I don't think anyone can argue with me when I say it was an absolute disaster.
It ended up being probably the worst decision of the original story, which was terrible since it was the thing that drove the plot. Alex was no longer a character, but a plot device that moved other characters along. He did not show up for the entire chapter till his corpse and from then on could just be replaced with 'that kid Luke killed'. As you can imagine Liquid went absolutely insane. At first he went on a witch hunt for Alex's killer, Luke was ofcourse prime suspect at the time so most of his anger went to him. He did however consider other characters, including my beloved Lana to be the killer. This did lead to some good moments but mostly some of us were afraid Liquid might vote to kill or harm a character if he thought they were the killer. When it was eventually revealed Liquid target him like an assassin. Luke, to him, became a physical representation of all the evil and horrible things in existence. I believe he once compared him to Hitler and Satan and in his eyes Luke was worse.
Liquid became absolutely revenge obsessed , wanting nothing more than to kill Luke in the most violent, horrific, painful way possible. Every scene and development Luke got hit him harder because it reminded him how Alex got none. Even when Nohope attempted to make Luke absolutely blameless of everything, Liquid's revenge driven mind would twist it as a way to hate him more. Therefore, most readers actively tried to avoid the issue. Another reader named Janitor disliked Luke a bit for his own reasons but didn't always agree with Liquid. XSensus who was also reading the story, was very uncomfortable with Liquid, but remained quiet for the most part. So, Agent Z46 became Luke's main defense and argued with Liquid a lot about it. And then there was me at the center of it all. My voting philosophy was to never kill a character, so Liquid basically had to beg me to side with him. However after a while I kept sticking to my moral views and we just ended up debating to the end. Eventually XSensus spoke up about how bothered he was with what Liquid was doing, and Liquid felt really bad and it just kinda died out from there. Liquid did still hate Luke's guts till the reboot though.
As to why he did this. Well judging from your questions before this you probably had this view of Luke as some sort of murderous villain. But I will tell you right now, despite anything Liquid might say, Luke was absolutely blameless. Not only because he really didn't want to kill Alex, but because NoHope went out of his way to make sure he had absolutely no fault in it. Luke was kidnapped by some mysterious guy named Owen and injected with some kind of super serum. This basically made him completely lose his mind and shoot Alex for reasons that barely qualify a punch. Then he became this bizzare spirit thing and ran off.
The answer to your second and third questions is a lot harder. You see after he killed Alex and became a spirit ghost thing Luke slowly became less and less of a character and more of a force of nature. First he saved some cops by possessing a drug dealer and killing all of his buddies. Then he became this animal spirit thing that needed to be 'controled' according to Owen, who was pretending to be a good guy at the time, and he also had to be reminded of who he was for some reason. Then he might have been some weird ghost orb thing annoying Clive and making him think he was crazy. Also I see people bringing up Samantha but that was the voters fault since her death came because a hasty decision they made to find out who the killer was. Besides the cop thing he never really seemed like he had any choice to do, well anything really.
Overall as stated above the Luke thing was an absolute disaster. It was the worst creative decision Nohope has ever made and I hope it stays that way. Nohope himself felt horrible over the whole thing and I'm convinced it was one of the driving forces behind the reboot. So I think its best if we just leave it behind us and look forward to the reboot, where hopefully nothing as problematic will happen.
This was a hard choice for me. It was between scifi horror and supernatural post apocalypse. Both options seemed really intriguing. I ultimately went with scifi horror because that seemed like one that has probably not been tried yet, in the forums.
Have you checked other forum stories yet?
Yes, I have checked out a few. I checked out the forumlands one. Liquid said it was sort of a reboot of an older story. I'm obviously reading the reboot for this story. Before I joined the forums, I read some of Liquid's forum of thrones story, but I'm way behind on it now. I also use to read, a long time ago before I joined the forums, the walking dead story by LeetheProfessional. There is one story that should be updated in January, by FluidstickyBen. That story is a Game of Thrones Story that takes place sixty years, in the future, from the books/tv show. However, the story I am most heavily invested in, partially because it has many characters I submitted, is Nymeria's War, by Wildlingking.
Cool. I hope you keep enjoying them. Also as a favor to Nohope don't let the previous characters influence you on the new versions too much.
Thanks for your explanation. It's interesting to see the different perspectives, on the situation. It helps build a more complete picture of what happened.
I won't let them influence me. It is a reboot with rebooted characters after all. I was just curious about Luke because people were talking about him after the reboot was announced and I wanted to understand what he did in the story for people to dislike/hate him.
Reading Liquids answer I can tell you already that he forgot a big fact. Sam died because of a vote, a vote he promoted and was a part of. Infact looking back I was the only person who didn't risk it, partially because I hadn't caught up, partially because I thought that even if I voted against it wouldn't matter and partially because I didn't think it was a very good idea. I did still feel guilty though. So again the readers are responsible.
Liquid.......Sam died because you and the others were so desperate to find out who the killer was you would risk her. So you are technically more to blame that Sam herself since you made that choice for her, even if you were pretty sure she wouldn't die.
No mention of Owen? Ok yeah its about time I asked. Liquid how come you despised Pre-Luke (Pre-reboot) but never hated Pre-Owen as much? In my eyes Owen was more to blame than anyone for everything that happened from Alex, Sam, exc... So why does he never gain your wrath?
[To expand on Liquid's summary, this story is set in a midwestern county that, on the surface, appears to be a normal (if a tad backwater) modern day county encompassing three towns.]
WHAT??!!! 3 towns?! I always thought the County was one town. It's how I always referenced it Prime. Dang it. What re these 3 towns then?
[ Eight to twelve people explore a strange world in their dreams, home to frightful things, some of which possess a disturbing level of control over the county they live in.]
YAY PLOT!!!!! This finally bring a couple of theories some basis. Currently I'm leaning towards dream demon making them to accept a reality that has everything they lost for some unknown reason. I also believe they are currently in the dream realm.
[Liquid forgot to mention this, but at the time of killing Alex, Luke had been seriously drugged up with an unknown substance by another character named Owen, who in turn was being controlled by an unknown entity (Liquid is the only who will get this reference, but in an older forum story, I had a descend vampire pulling the strings that would lead to its resurrection—it might have been something similar to that). ]
WHAT??!!! So Owen didn't have a choice either? I thought he was just some crazy scientist obsessed with powers or finding so me ancient being. You know for a story that puts such high emphasis on choices, you really seem to enjoy the irony of not giving the villains any.
So, I am not really sure if I should have replied to this, but I feel the need to make some things clear, because I feel that this post is portraying me in the most negative light possible. I'm not really sure what you are trying to achieve by this, but well, I think I absolutely should clarify a few aspects of this. First of all, let me make it clear that I am not angry at anything you have written, even if I possibly sound that way, which I honestly always do. I'm calm, very calm, I just feel represented in the completely wrong light here.
I strongly object, because you couldn't be more wrong there. Silicon has started in June 2015. I started heavily participating in interactive stories around June 2014, when the first wave of them hit the forums. By the time Silicon started, I think I have rightly considered myself to be the most experienced interfic reader in the forums save for supersagig, considering that I have participated in dozens of stories at that point. You do remember that we first met in the original Forumlands in July 2014, don't you? You also remember that we have both heavily participated in all of Saltlick's stories ever since they first started in September 2014, right? TheFurryOne's Midnight Hollow? Monument? Hell, Forum of Thrones started half a year before Silicon started, so I really don't think I have been new to interactive stories in the slightest.
Well, thank you for your input there. As much as I'd like to disagree, I fully know that I have been far from rational in my hatred at Luke. However, I also know for a fact that this has been a slow process and that my anger grew only together with my frustration at a lack of answers. It was not pure rage, but a mixture of anger, grief and frustration. Let's just say, I do have a problem going past the second stage of grief, because I do not bargain, I don't get depressed and I don't accept what I hate.
As far as I know, Lana has been the only innocent person I ever, half-jokingly, brought up as a potential suspect. As far as I know, you have also been the only person that has been afraid I would, without any sort of proof, try to get innocent characters killed. Yes, I was grasping at straws with Lana, but I think I admitted this pretty early into this theory and only continued with it because it made a strange amount of sense for a while, even though I outright told you I would not try and get any character killed without proof. I can remember for a fact that we had a brief discussion about this, which ended with me spelling it out to you that I won't do anything to any character before their guilt is proven, especially not someone who has barely ever been a subject, such as Lana. Even then, the bulk of my hatred was reserved for Luke and Owen, who were both proven to be guilty and who had both heavily been hinted at being guilty before that point.
I don't think I had to twist anything with my "revenge-driven mind", because the only reason to hate Luke I needed was that he murdered Alex. I think I made it clear very early that I won't have any redemption for that character, so there was no need for me to twist anything. It was pure hatred against Luke from the beginning to the end and every additional relation did nothing to make this hatred stronger or weaker, it only gave me more material to rage at.
I'm rather sure that was not what he said and I know for a fact that I haven't felt bad about anything Luke-related. I never wanted to make anyone feel bad about this, which was why I time and again put emphasis on the fact that my anger has never been directed at a user here in the forums. I know that xSensus eventually gave his opinion on the topic, in which I assured him that I hold not even the tiniest piece of anger against him for submitting this character. The hatred also only started to die out when Hope informed me about his plans to reboot the story, after which my anger really had no foundation anymore. And let me be clear, I still hate pre-reboot Luke with all my heart, but I think it is only fair to give the rebooted version of Luke a chance to replace my opinion on the character, so I am a lot calmer about things now.
First of all, let's really not go there and have that discussion again. In my post to Tales above, I told him that your stance on the topic is not entirely baseless, but saying that Luke has been entirely blameless is wrong even when you consider him to be not as guilty as others. He pointed a gun at Alex, he pulled the trigger and he didn't do a thing to help. I'd say that is the polar opposite of being entirely blameless. At the very least, it is involuntary manslaughter, at its worst it can be considered first degree murder on purpose. And even then I see it as objectively false to say that Hope went out of his way to make sure that Luke has no fault in what happened. In my opinion, Hope left this deliberately ambiguous. If he would have tried to make Luke be innocent, he wouldn't have put him as the killer in the first place. I always admitted that my opinion is influenced by personal feelings and in no way an objective truth, so at least do me the favour and don't try to paint your personal opinion as somehow more correct than mine.
And that is another thing that has been highly ambiguous. We never even got a hint at how conscious Luke is and how much he even realizes his own actions. For me, it seems like he was in full control of everything. For you, it seemed different but the fact is that the story got rebooted before we received any answer. It has been at least implied that he consciously stalked Sam and Clive. Sam was an accident, but after seeing how negatively she reacted to his presence, he continued to stalk Clive in the same way and that is just inexcusable.
And that is another thing I disagree with. It was a creative decision Hope made in his own story and as such it does not deserve to be called the worst creative decision he ever made. That I ended up disliking this decision doesn't make it any less viable. I only ever hated the character of Luke and his actions in the story, but not the creative decisions behind this. On top of that, none of us know the full picture about the original story, even if Hope published a few of his thoughts in that document that showed his old plans. As a result, I don't think this decision can be judged as positive or negative in any way.
So, all things considerd, this is not only a very heated topic to discuss and one I do not wish to bring up again, but also a topic where I strongly feel that there is no objective right or wrong. You know where I stand, I know where you stand, but that does not mean that either of us is objectively right there. Just because you feel that Luke is not to blame for his actions doesn't mean that my hatred for Luke is any less justified. Similarly, just because I hate Luke to degrees I myself can't even fully imagine doesn't mean that your opinion is wrong and without reason. So please, let us not have that sort of debate again, because I guarantee that nothing good is going to come out of this.
I never hated Owen that much because he is not the one who murdered Alex. He did not pull a gun out, point it at Alex and pull the trigger, he hasn't even been present at the scene. I think I have made it clear that I hated him almost as much as I hated Luke, but with far less passion and emotion in it. There is also the fact that he caused Luke unimaginable agony, which I saw as a redeeming trait for him. So, you see, he did gain my wrath, but in a far colder way. In the end, I wanted him to suffer about the same fate I wished for Luke, which I am sure I outright stated somewhere. It's just that I don't consider him to be as guilty as Luke for what happened.
That might be true from an out-of-story perspective, but in the story, there has been no collective of voters that took control of Sam and forced her to use her powers. Second, are you implying that Sam herself is to blame for dying? It should be noted that there have been not even the tiniest hints at her powers being harmful for her, much less that they are going to kill her, save for Owen's highly shady warning, after it was made clear that Owen has something to hide and likely a personal interest in preventing the killer from being caught. So, from a purely in-story perspective, the ones to blame are Luke, for giving Sam these dangerous powers and Owen for not directly warning her. If I start blaming the voters for getting Sam killed, I'd have to start blaming xSensus for submitting Luke and Hope for writing the story into that direction. This is something I'm not doing and never have.
However, I am more than just a little bit unsure what you are trying to achieve here. You know just as much as I do that this has been a very heated debate, so I think I am not the only one who feels like stirring it up again is a terrible move.
I'm sorry my questions caused so much drama and old feelings to flare up. That was never my intention. Now, however, I'm curious about Owen but I'm not sure if asking about him or his influence on other characters would cause any drama.
I don't really think you stirred up any drama with your questions, no need to be sorry. You just asked a very complicated question that has been the point of many arguments in the past, which you couldn't have known, so any sort of answer is guaranteed to be equally complicated. As you have seen from the replies you got, there is no clear answer to them and much of it goes down to personal opinions on the characters and the topic of revenge in general. I ardently stand by my positions, but I know that Lord and Agent have their own on the matter which they are no less passionate about. Hope has given the most neutral thoughts on the matter, so you should consider his point as the ones that are objectively the most true, but I believe that both, Lord and I, have clear foundations for our opinions as well.
With Owen, the problem is that he is one of the biggest mysteries of the original story, so depending on your question, it might not even be possible to give you an answer. Before the story started, he abducted Luke and tortured him with some chemicals, which caused Luke to panic, but likely also triggered the supernatural powers he displayed later, like being this incorporeal being. His reason for doing that is not known. Until Hope just revealed it, it wasn't even clear that he was controlled by some dark force. Afterwards, he was first introduced into the story as a shady potential ally to Samantha after she awoke from her coma and he introduced her to her powers and taught her basically how to use them. Together, they found out where Luke's body is located and they tried to save him. Ultimately, Owen succeeded on doing that on his own, but we don't know his reasons for doing so. It is possible that the dark entity behind him had a hand in all of his actions, but not even the slightest thing is known about that one. He also warned Sam not to use her powers to find out what happened between Luke and Alex, but did not specify why she shouldn't do so, so the utmost majority of readers assumed that he just wanted to hide his own involvement in the events of this day and we ignored his warning. Ultimately, I would say that the Owen from the original story is even more of a mystery than Luke. If he truly was controlled by some dark force, then I can't even give you a clear answer on his personality and stuff like that.