Chapter 14, Page 4

Hello friends! Happy Wednesday!

I have a busy couple weeks ahead of me – I’m headed to SF for the Game Developers Conference, where I’ll be presenting a panel about content warnings and attending the GDCA and the IGF awards, and then the week after that I’m taking a last-minute trip to attend the BAFTA awards – it’s award season for the game I worked on! Cross your fingers for us!

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TRANSCRIPT

Panel 1 (Exterior of building and windows)
Lawyer: Divorce is common. The courts are actually pretty good at sorting out hurt feelings. Maybe it won’t seem fair to him, but that’s because he’s been benefitting from your silence for ten years.
Imogen: It’s not about the money, though! My student loans came in…
Lawyer: Oh, that’s right! Nursing school seems like a good fit for you.

Panel 2 (close-up of lawyer)
Lawyer: But, Imogen… sometimes it is about the money. And that’s okay. Marriage isn’t just about love, it’s a contract. You promised to support one another. You did that every day of your marriage, and he didn’t. You deserve to get back everything you put in, and your children deserve the best he can provide, too.

Panel 3 (close-up of Imogen’s purse in her lap)
Imogen: Yeah, he… hah, he didn’t want me to go to school, so… I guess he owes me one.

Panel 4 (Lawyer and Imogen shaking hands)
Lawyer: That’s exactly how it should work. He got his for ten years, now you get yours.
Imogen: Thanks.

Digg

Ava

March 15, 2023, 6:08 am | # | Reply

Nursing school!! ::jumps up and down::

RDawn

March 15, 2023, 7:09 am | # | Reply

i’m so hype!! i can’t wait for her to be rid of him. and if he sells the house, then he could move awayyyy… and… what if imogen bought the house? prolly not, but idk just a thought.

also, you guys totally deserve awards on that game!! it was beautiful to see, to play, to listen to, and to experience as a story. I literally fell in love with (almost) all of the characters, and if i finish the routes for the rest of them, i’m certain i’d fall in love with the rest. Nem is my bffff forever and tan will always be my love idk how her route ends

rose

March 15, 2023, 2:52 pm | # | Reply

As someone who grew up with an abusive father who made the other parent carry the entire family for 14+ years and then some (because lets face it that didn’t exactly end after the separation either, y’know?) and acted extremely negatively to having to pay up when the divorce was finalized, I can’t lie, I got a tear in my eye at the lawyer saying things like “he got his ten years, now you get yours” and “marriage isn’t just about love, it’s a contract.” It doesn’t sound what society deems “romantic,” but it’s all true, and we shame the hell out of people for demanding what they are legally and morally entitled to. It’s hard to watch Imogen go through this because I know what it’s like to watch this nightmare from the child’s stand point, and how much a toxic ex-partner will fight to prevent even their own children from having a better life if it means sticking it to their ex. But getting to watch her be free and find happiness elsewhere, AND also get the (financial) support she deserves for all the years of hard work she put into a soul-sucking void, is very cathartic to read, and I thank you for that.

(P.S My father didn’t want my mom to go to school either, and now she’s also a fantastic and hard working nurse. Funny how that is. Terrible people really are all unoriginal at the end of the day. Anyway, I can’t wait to watch Imogen take more of her life back and become who she wants to be. <3)