[Report This]Date: May 02 2021 1:00 AM Title: A Brand New World
This was unexpected but not un-welcomed. I'll be looking forward to the official beginning of this story!
Author's Response:
A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one, perhaps? I'm glad to hear you're looking forward to the official beginning! Hopefully soon. Until then, I'm really glad to have you back!
-Pluto
Date: May 01 2021 4:37 PM Title: A Brand New World
I'm glad this story is back. That said, I have two things to say, one, I'm hoping there will be more info as to how Brian was revealed to be innocent, and two, and this is just my personal opinion, I don't know how to feel about his mom feeling guilty, it seems completely out of character for the way she was described in the first part of the series, I just don't find it believable. I'd have less trouble believing she didn't regret anything and Jennifer left her for it, that would actually be more satisfying in a weird way, since the whole "everybody being-happy-together-sunshine-and-rainbows-idea just seems off, I mean, the earlier part made it seem like his Mom was utterly disgusting and beyond redeption, let alone feelings of remorse. Sometimes families need to leave toxic family members to be happy family, and I just feel like that would have been more believable, I'm having trouble suspending my disbelief.
Author's Response:
Thanks for the review! I'm glad to have you back, and I seriously appreciate the feedback. Brian's mom is a tough character to navigate for me, so I'm definitely paying attention to how people react to her. So, I'll just explain my thought process a bit, if that's okay~
So, the flashbacks of her being awful in prison, as well as her fight with Brian, took place three years prior to the start of the story. The only current action we've seen of her so far is when she stated on TV that she didn't care about Brian's death, since he's no longer her son. Obviously a horrible thing, and I'm not about to excuse that, but one could make the argument that she was doing that to protect herself and Jen (again, not a justification, just an explanation). Outside of that, a long time has passed since she became the sole guardian of her daughter. So, I thought some change wouldn't be a huge leap, but I obviously could be wrong.
As for Jen, the unfortunate truth is that she has nowhere to go. She's still a minor, and like Brian said in part 1 they have no other family. So, even though their mom is toxic, it's not so easy to get away from her. I'm 2000% with you, though, sometimes people need to cut toxic family members out of their lives. However, it's also important to remember that a lot of people simply can't do that easily, due to outside circumstances. Which absolutely sucks!!
So, basically I just thought it made sense for her to be remorseful. I kinda felt like making her 100% mean and indifferent would make her too one-dimensional, if that makes sense. So, yeah, those were my thoughts. Sorry for the super long response haha, but I've obviously given it a lot of thought! I fully accept that I might have made a bad call, though.
Lastly, though, I do have to say that it's very premature to say that I'm going for a "everybody happy together sunshine and rainbows" thing. She hasn't even spoken with Brian yet, so I hope you'll see how that goes before making a judgement. Regardless, thank you so much again for your thoughts! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.
-Pluto
Date: May 01 2021 7:46 AM Title: A Brand New World
Whew, it's a relief Brian got his "I'm alive, just very smol" video out so quickly. Jen was giving me a worrying suicidal vibe after learning her dead brother was innocent all along for certain. And it gave me a chuckle that Senator Day reached out to Jen, but snubbed Laura Bentley, especially if she knew before calling Jen that Brian was alive. I'm a little confused about Brian saying he's permanently shrunk in his video, unless that's just a jab to pull at people's heartstrings. I see the Senator pouncing on that during her "End the Shrink Penalty" preseidential campaign. "Good news everyone! I, Senator Day, have reached out to scientists who say they can restore poor Brian Bentley. That's right! Senator Day has helped your little hero!"
I wonder if Brian will refuse to see Jen until he's restored to his real size. He'll almost certaintly at least call her or video chat with her, but I wonder if he's too scared to let her see her big brother so vulnerable like that.
Personally, I'm all for a good grudge. But I think the story will head towards reconciliation instead. Don't know what she'll do to earn it, her last word with him is that she'd happily kill him herself, and the day after his execution reporters asked for her statement and she said she didn't care that he was dead since he was no longer her son. I think the chance of Laura being allowed back into Brian's life will depend on how Jen feels about how she's been acting in the past 3 years. Still, you could let Allison or Elizabeth get a few good hits in when Laura tries to see her son again.
Author's Response:
Right? Although, Jen's mental trauma has now been replaced with a *different* mental trauma, so she's not feeling good no matter what.
As for the permanent thing, it was definitely to create hella sympathy for him. Also, they have to play into what the audience believes. The whole 'not permanent' thing is a closely guarded secret, so they can't just let that slip on national TV. Of course, it also presents an opportunity for the senator to become a hero, for sure!
As for a reconciliation or not, just know that I'm not ever going to try and justify her actions, or create quick forgiveness just for the sake of the plot. Brian isn't about to forgive her any time soon, and as he said in part 2, he doesn't even want to meet with her at all. Jen will definitely influence that, though, so I hope you'll find it interesting. Glad to have you back!
-Pluto
[Report This]Date: May 01 2021 6:32 AM Title: A Brand New World
Man, I don’t know what I’m feeling right now. I’ve been so excited for the third part and now that it's here I feel so happy and this first chapter is everything I wanted and more. I feel vindicated go figure; I mean Brian's innocence and the fact that he’s alive is revealed and all I feel is giddy. But then we get to Lauren and Jen and I have some mixed fucking emotion. On one hand, I wanted nothing more than for Lauren to feel even a fraction of what Brain felt and I got it but I don’t feel as good as I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong I feel good but just not that good like I feel bad for her, I never thought I would feel bad for her what the fuck, good job for that one. Seeing her recognize how fucked up she was and how much of a monster she was especially in her final moments really fuck me but this line for some reason beyond my comprehension really fucking made me sad man
He needed his mother, she thought.
He was alone and scared. He needed his mother. He needed me.
This hit me hard fuck me, man. Oh man even writing about this makes me tear up God damn.
Now with Jen, my feeling is simpler, I feel terrible for her and the roller coaster of emotions she's going through especially at seven fucking teens holy shit. Holy fuck man this entire family is going to need years of therapy and maybe some family therapy. Fuck man you were right though nothing will ever be the same.
10/10 would cry again.
Author's Response:
Thanks so much for the review, and I'm glad the first chapter didn't disappoint! I know what you mean, genuine remorse and sadness makes it harder to feel like you're getting 'revenge.' That was my intent, to create conflicting feelings, so I'm glad it came through for you. (With that being said, it's mainly to create more drama, I'm not going for a redemption thing.)
As for her 'needed his mother' thought, that made me emotional, too! And that's because It's heavily inspired by a scene from The West Wing, in which one of the characters (Mrs. Landingham) talks about her sons who died in Vietnam. No joke, that scene makes me cry every time. I'm glad the emotion resonated with you!
And yeah, Jen is absolutely going through a lot. She seriously needs a break, and she *definitely* needs some therapy, too. As her big brother points out, she's just a kid.
Again, thanks for the review! I hope you enjoy where we go from here.
-Pluto
[Report This]Date: May 01 2021 4:09 AM Title: A Brand New World
That's one longass teaser, lol. Didn't expect you so soon, but good to have you back all the same. Oh, and as far as this chapter goes, you knocked it out of the park. Couldn't put it down, it felt like I was in the room with them. I hated his mom in parts 1 and 2, yet somehow, you made me want to give her a big hug in this one. Fantastic job.
Author's Response:
You know what, you're right. Maybe I should have called it the prologue instead. Oh well, no take-backsies.
I'm really glad you enjoyed the chapter! I'm definitely really interested to see people's reactions to his mom in this story, so I'm glad you're feeling sympathetic towards her. I hope you enjoy the future chapters!
-Pluto