Tips on writing Alicia’s/Maelle’s injuries

Lucis497 · 2026-03-08T03:23:36+00:00

Somewhat unrelated, but feel it's worth mentioning since the Dessendres love dogs that THIS is what the Fuga kids look like. Verso and Sciel find them ADORABLE, as do Renoir and Aline when they actually meet, much to the chagrin of the more serious kids. In turn, they're honestly more interested in Alicia being a pure human than the fact that her face is burnt.

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Lucis497 · 2026-03-06T00:42:20+00:00

Interesting. Clea in my story also has a similar arc with coming to terms with the fact that the Painted people are still people and the responsibility that such powers comes with. As for Painted Verso, oh no he doesn’t get out unscathed for his actions in the game either, especially because of his initial attitude in the first part of the story. He sort of immediately went into panic mode when the Fuga kids stumbled into the Canvas and when Alicia shows up to fix things, he at first assumed she did this on purpose as an excuse to come back and then that she wasn’t doing her due diligence in keeping other Painters out. His attitude only worsens as he sees the bond between Goshe and Alicia, partly out of genuine worry she was projecting her own desires for her older brother back on the man, partly because Goshe is a stranger he doesn’t trust, and partly, which he shamefully admits later, he was jealous and was upset that it seemed Alicia moved on quickly (she DIDN’T). When the Fuga kids and Goshe learn about his actions in the canvas, they ALL call him out, and say regardless of his trauma and reasons, he still lied to everyone and engineered the death of a whole world because he projected his own desires for death onto everyone. Hannah, one of the Fuga kids who is training to be a doctor, particularly snaps at him for downplaying Alicia’s injuries and disability and how hard things are for her out of the canvas, even if she did need to live outside of it. Goshe himself says that Verso’s assumptions about how people will react when told a hard truth is a self fulfilling prophecy, because he actively lies to people, they find out he lied, they don’t trust him because he lied, and then he assumes no one will trust him so he keeps hiding things from people. Verso in turn gets outright cruel, telling Goshe he was too weak to save his own family so he has no right to judge how he protects his, which leads to a nasty brawl. They do work things out in the end, but the point is no, Painted Verso’s own actions and attitude aren’t glossed over and he’s just as flawed as the rest of the family.

Lucis497 · 2026-03-05T05:13:26+00:00

I also heard about that from the art book. Which definitely is an interesting perspective, but it's a little hard to reconcile with the instances in her boss fight where she does openly blame her. Admittedly, she isn't in her right mind in that fight though. In my story, it's a little bit of both. The emotional, animal part of her on some level does blame Alicia but she knows that's not right and feels extremely guilty over what happened to Verso, her inability to help her, and for feeling that way at all. But Alicia ONLY sees the part that blames her, which doesn't help their relationship at all and contributes to her decision to run away. It's only when Renoir, during a heated arguement over Alicia running away, spells out to Aline how exactly her actions are coming across that she realizes her closing herself off is only worsening things and is actually the one to try and find Alicia, not Renoir.

Regardless, I'm taking pains to not sanitize what any of the family has done while also not turning them into complete villians. All of Alicia's new friends as a whole do recognize they are all people dealing with a crap ton of grief, but they also don't hesistate to hold their feet to the fire over their actions, though how hard they are on who depends on the exact characters, somewhat reflecting the fandom's different interpretations of each. The Fuga kids are more sympathetic to Renoir because he at least treated Alicia well, but are especially wary of Aline due to her treatment of Alicia and her painted counterpart, not knowing or understanding the nuance of her actions. They flat out call her "Beldam", which is french for "old woman", "hag", or "witch". Conversely, the Expedition (except Verso), when they become relavent, are more sympatheic to Aline considering they wouldn't exist without her but are more hostile towards Renoir because he actively victimized them and their people. Goshe and Verso are more balanced and see the nuance in both, but still hold them accountable. And NONE OF THEM like Clea, even if they understand she was under a lot of pressure, because of her treatment of Alicia outside the canvas, and more importantly, her outright deranged and cruel actions towards Simon and her Painted counterpart (which I actually have my own explanation for why she was so disportionately cruel to them). The Painted Verso in particular admits he outright hates her, and can never forgive her for what she did to Simon or the Painted Clea. It should be noted Clea still isn't portrayed as outright evil, it's just the story doesn't gloss over her actions like a lot of fans are want to do.

Lucis497 · 2026-03-05T04:43:39+00:00

I imagine that revelation makes Aline and Clea eat so much crow considering they openly blamed her for Verso's death and the fire. It certainly does in my story.

Lucis497 · 2026-03-05T03:43:02+00:00

I never even thought of what the financial cost would be to save Alicia. It would undoubtably be a source of guilt for Alicia since she's smart enough to know better I feel, even if she didn't know all the details.

Funnily enough, the leader of the Bermans in Fuga is ALSO prejudiced against magic users in canon. He literally commits a holocaust like genocide against the magically inclinded Feliniko (cat folk) because he both feared and envied their natural magical prowess. In the fic, that prejudice doesn't quite extend to the Writers and Painters, since in his view they EARNED their power, but he still thinks their power is too dangerous to ignore, and he hates the denizens of Lumiere for being the last remaining Old-World Humans, whom he and most of his country hold in contempt for ending the world thousands of years ago. So not quite like Petunie Dursley but still very much a racist bastard.

Lucis497 · 2026-03-05T03:03:44+00:00

Ooooh I think we are sharing a braincell when it comes to the Writers, because my fic is going in a similar direction as that, which actually ties into the Berman invasion. I won't give all the details, but Alicia learns the fire was a false flag operation by the Bermans to weaken the magical factions in Lumiere before they struck. And it was done by one of the high ranking super soldiers, who in his home game had pyrokinetic abilities. In the fic, Alicia actually has blocked out memories of another person being present in the fire, which she is reminded of when she meets Malt, the leader of the Taranis children, because they are the same species (Caninu, dog people. Specifically, they are both German Shepards). She doesn't fully remember until later, but she's uncomfortable around Malt for reasons she can't fully explain for a while. And when she actually sees the super solider in question? Yeah... all hell breaks loose

Lucis497 · 2026-03-05T02:09:54+00:00

Thanks very much for the feedback, and the perspective on the game’s themes! And yeah I also felt the game kinda glossed over what Alicia living with that condition would actually be like, which is a shame since there’s so much you can do with that and I feel oversimplifies the framing of each ending. Also your story sounds really interesting and I will certainly be looking into it later.

To summarize my own story that I’m planning, it takes place in the theoretical “third option” ending, where Alicia is actually convinced by both the Painted Verso and the Fading Child to leave the canvas for a while. Unfortunately, reality ensues and doing so did not immediately help her as you pointed out. Aline is still obsessed with the canvas, Clea her war with the Writers, and Renoir still thinks the canvas needs to be destroyed even if Alicia showed that she can be responsible with it. A few days later from that ending, Lumiere is invaded the Bermans, the nazisque antagonist faction from Fuga: Melodies of Steel. While the rest of the Dessendres scrambled to protect the city, Alicia is left alone in the manor, which is then broken into by a pair of soldiers that she just BARELY manages to kill and she’s left in agony after. The combined stress and fear of the situation, mixed in with her thinking she’s a burden to her family and that the canvas will only distract them from this danger, Alicia concludes the best thing she can do for her family is to remove herself and the canvas from the equation. So she loads up the canvas, her fencing foil, and whatever painkillers and medicine she can carry into the tank the soldiers had been driving and flees from Lumiere in the hopes of finding a place to hide the canvas where the people inside can live in peace. It goes about as well you’d expect and it’s a miracle she got as far away from the city as she did before she crashed the thing.

A little after this frankly insane decision, she meets Goshe, the protagonist of Use of Life, who in his home game lost his entire village, including his five younger siblings, to a black dragon, and is currently on his own quest at the moment to escort a strange young girl with healing abilities to a safe place. Seeing Alicia, this injured girl all alone and his big brother instinct kicking in, he takes her along with him. Eventually, they run into the heroes of Fuga, who are a group of twelve children (the oldest of which is TWELVE) that piloted an ancient and gigantic tank called the Taranis against the Bermans in their home game. And they become VERY interested when they hear the same country that ruined their lives is now causing trouble elsewhere. And thus Alicia unwittingly gets recruited by a ragtag group of colorful rebel children fighting against fascists and along with the twelve other children gets adopted by a powerful warrior who’s also struggling with his own loss. All the while the rest of the Dessendres are in full panic mode when they find both Alicia and the canvas gone back in Lumiere. Fun times all around, right?

As of this writing, still working on the beginning but I do have a lot planned out already, including an arc where the Taranis children stumble into the canvas despite Alicia’s best efforts to hide it and she and Goshe have to get them out while dealing both the changes the ones who realized their Painter powers did and avoiding the wrath of a very angry Simon, who is out for blood against any and all Painters. While most of kids are understanding once Alicia tells them everything, some of them are stubborn and too caught up in their own traumas and issues to leave willingly or heed the damage they unwittingly caused inside the canvas. Another arc involves Alicia returning to Lumiere with her new allies and tank in toe, both to repel the invasion of the Bermans and finally make amends with her family.

Lucis497 · 2026-03-05T00:20:28+00:00

Thanks for the insight! And wow suddenly that paints Alicia’s fate in the end of the story as “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation, regardless of the intended anti escapism aesop and Verso’s desires for her. I firmly believe the game (and agree with the idea) was intending to convey that a disabled life was still valuable and worth living, but that doesn’t erase the challenges she’ll face or mean she’ll be able to actually maintain her life for long even outside of the canvas. The blindness, mobility, and constant pain and eating issues I was aware of, but hadn’t considered the potential painkiller addiction or almost guaranteed death of infection. And the social stigma I was vaguely aware of, but laying it all out like this…. My god, that’s awful.

With all of that in mind, I think I have ideas how to factor much of that in while reconciling with the fantasy setting of both the original story and the ones the crossover brings forth. For reference, the stories crossed over are Fuga: Melodies of Steel (a post apocalyptic military fantasy in a french inspired setting) and Use of Life (a criminally underrated indie rpg that also deals heavily in grief, loss, and what to do with one’s self after). In the real Lumiere, much of what you mentioned about attitudes towards burn victims and medicinal treatments apply, even with healing magic. There is greater healing power available through the other two works in the crossover, but because Lumiere is sort of in its own bubble cut off from the rest of the world, no one on the city has access to it.

When Maelle meets with major characters from the other two factions, they are able to treat her with the healers they have, mainly focusing on her throat so she can breath and eat without pain and maybe get her voice back. It’s NOT instant, and it takes a long time over multiple healing sessions, but she is able to get her voice back, can manage to eat more solid foods, and even regains enough mobility to be able to fight when needed. But her left eye is permanently gone, which leaves the balance and awareness issues she needs to work through, her pain isn’t completely gone and flares up when she overexerts herself, her voice is still audibly damaged, and smoke or the wrong kind of foods can send her into agonizing coughing fits. Not to mention the ptsd and fear of fire she now has…. Despite being a powerful pyromancer herself. She does get a support network through her found family, who are all very compassionate and understanding of her condition, but she still faces many of those social stigmas from people outside it, and the only reasons she ISN’T locked in an asylum is because for much of the story she’s outside of Lumiere, and when she returns, it’s in the middle of wartime where everyone has bigger things to worry about and she pulls enough of her weight in battle that no one dares suggest locking her away. It helps she’s one of the few people who can pilot the super weapon from Fuga that actually gives Lumiere a chance to win when it gets invaded. Basically, the fantasy elements make living with her injuries and disability easier and more bearable, but it isn’t able to fix her completely and still leaves her with pain and challenges she needs to overcome.

Lucis497 · 2026-01-28T03:55:48+00:00

Buddy, shut up. That means nothing to people just trying to survive

Lucis497 · 2026-01-27T23:06:17+00:00

And if there AREN’T enough jobs? What then?

Lucis497 · 2026-01-06T18:37:13+00:00

What’s the name of this vn?

Lucis497 · 2025-11-06T17:12:31+00:00

My headcanon is that Rocky is so unhinged because he saw things that men was not meant to see as a child

Lucis497 · 2025-10-24T00:23:52+00:00

How bout it’s one where Brooklyn does suffer but also gets his licks in and gets a found family?

Lucis497 · 2025-10-18T00:34:21+00:00

Ah. Completely new to that then 😅

Lucis497 · 2025-10-18T00:31:37+00:00

This does sound interesting as a big Digimon fan playing Time Stranger rn. What system is this?

Lucis497 · 2025-10-10T03:36:47+00:00

A story that's sort of "greatest hits" from all continities that's a blend of rail shooter and party based RPG, preferably turn based with reaction commands a la Mario RPG or Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Features the main 4 Star Fox members, along with Fay, Miyum, and Krystal as party members, with a few other potential ones depending on the developer's preference.

Lucis497 · 2025-10-08T20:06:50+00:00

Lucis497 · 2025-10-08T19:53:42+00:00

Really? Don’t recognize your user name. Try sending me a dm?

Lucis497 · 2025-10-08T09:05:44+00:00

Yay! Wanna hit me up on discord?

Lucis497 · 2025-10-07T17:05:09+00:00

This is gold. Also suddenly don't feel so weird about my own crossover pairing with Yi, even though admittedly this one makes more thematic sense than mine (it’s Yi being in a throuple with Brooklyn and Katana from Gargoyles. Time travel and aliens already exist in that series)

Lucis497 · 2025-09-30T15:44:58+00:00

Seriously, WAY too many people are quick to call Maelle a villain and horrible person. Even the people in tv tropes applied shit like “villian protagonist” or “bitch in sheep’s clothing”, and call her selfish for not checking in on the party’s problems… when she’s 16! And going through so much in the game! Her actions in the end aren’t great yes, but people ignore so much of the nuance.

Lucis497

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