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(1 edit) (+6)

We will touch on that, but in our own way. I think the very traditional narratives of "coming to terms, coming out of the closet, suffering push back and overcoming it" are very overdone and not very engaging, so when we do it I want it to be different.

Khenbish's story may be the one that most visibly touches this subject. He comes from a very poor family that's been through a lot, and from a culture that's not had much contact with the idea of being tolerant of LGBT people. His family is loving, he loves his parents and siblings and wants to help them, which is why he's been hyper-focused on being the responsible older brother at the cost of his own self-exploration as an individual. It's also a factor that he really struggled to make connections with others because of his charm, and being openly LGBT often leads to people being fired over it in Mongolia.

Overall, Khenbish's life is affected by a homophobic culture, but it's first and foremost ruled by the very few chances he and his family have had to do well in life. So him coming to terms with his own sexuality will be a bit different from most LGBT narratives. It will be, I hope, quite unique, and maybe a bit subtle.

As for Oscar... I have a lot I'd like to touch with him. The Hinterlands sections happened mainly from P's perspective, so we didn't get to see much of Oscar's innermost thoughts. I'd like to change that in the future, hopefully explore how he sees his own sexuality.

He's someone who's been so thoroughly excluded from his community, and he is so aware of how destructive the Hinterlands are, that he sees everything that opposes their local culture as a positive thing. The standard sexuality for a man of the Hinterlands is "heterosexual chronic cheater" or, at most, "homophobic bisexual chronic cheater misogynist," so you can imagine that P's "monogamous gay who does not want to take advantage of him" is almost saint-like in comparison.

In that sense, Oscar doesn't struggle too much with accepting his sexuality, but if we see more of his inner monologue I want to convey that things are a little more complicated. He has a richer inner life than his attitude lets on, and that extends to the finer details of his sexuality. He's special like that.

Asterion doesn't struggle too much with being attracted to a man, instead he has to grapple with literally everything else, including but not limited to the MC's hierarchical position, frail mortality, and the profound existential dread of being unable to follow the natural cycle of life which all mortals do. 

As an addendum, Asterion has seen plenty of LGBT people over the centuries, so homosexuality on its own is not something he bats an eye at.

Other characters may touch on this topic too, but more distantly and superficially. We will see.

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That is something I'm happy to read will be touched on and I look forward to it! I love to read on other culture's experiences on coming out to get a different perspective on it. Especially if it's not the valid but overly depicted coming out of the closet to homophobia and overcoming adversity story.

The little we do see of Khenbish, I that impression of putting his family first before his wants and needs; especially with he dreams and desires. I'd like to learn more about how his culture informs his views and probably his need to be closeted. I get the impression part of his annoyance with Luke at the drinking game is jealousy that Luke has the privilege to be as open as he is. It's humorous and sad if you see him seemingly despite to learn more about how he could date and get laid as a mythical if you ask the charm question.

As for Oscar, I am curious to learn his experiences with finding himself given the life he's lived. I imagine given how much time he's lived in isolation has given him the time to reflect on his feelings on the subject even if the circumstances wouldn't have given him the opportunity to explore them with another person before Pedro came into his life. The views of the Hinterlands that you mentioned hit close to home in terms of the little of my Peruvian heritage I've experienced from my biological father. It makes me feel fortunate to have not experienced it growing up. Besides the "being gay is cool" dialogue being hilarious in context, it's good insight on Oscar finding things in depictions of gays that he likely finds appealing because it reflects his likes and his feelings. It would great to read highlights from the Hinterlands from Oscar's perspective. Though, how you would implement it (a flashback? An unlockable replay) and then take Oscar's and Pedro's relationship status (Friends or Romantic) into account is more wishes for the game to add to the list. Still, I would like to read Oscar at least talk about it with either Asterion or Pedro.

Then there's Asterion who would likely have a unique perspective and experience with finding himself given the time and part of the world he grew up in and the centuries after his death. I would assume he'd also have the same time in life as with Oscar being isolated in the labyrinth when he lived to reflect on himself and what he liked. And if not, definitely in the centuries afterwards. I would love to have he and the MC have a conversation about it and how he likely doesn't see it as a big deal but from his experience through the guest, he understands the concepts of "being in the closet" and "coming out" even if he just learned that those phrases are the modern associations to those concepts. It could be an opportunity to give the player a chance to flesh out their MC with maybe an option of their experience. Is the MC out and it's been no big deal for him, did he come out and is no longer on speaking terms with some family members or maybe he's still closeted though given his ownership of the hotel, that couldn't have that much of an impact on his financial and/pr physical wellbeing if he come out now. Or maybe some other experience I can't think of. Ultimately, it's not something that could have an effect on the plot, but it could give Asterion different dialogue base on his centuries of vicarious experience for the conversation. That is something I love about the Luke and Asterion conversation if Kota is running the lounge and what the "gay" conversations says about Asterion's knowledge about it and subtle probing on the matter. He's not ignorant of the concept of homosexuality as Luke assumes, he just doesn't know that the word gay is associated with homosexual. Asterion's follow up question on if being gay is normal is Asterion gauging what the modern-day view on homosexuality is by Luke's responds. I can only imagine that his thought is "oh, so it's ok for people to be open about loving same sex people again. Good to know." It could also contribute to him gauging how receptive the MC could be to him admitting his love to him based on the modern-day view on the matter. Not having this conversation is made up by Robert and Jean's conversation later on and likely that the MC isn't out right offended at the thought. Our moo sharing his views on the how homosexuality and/or non-heteronormative relationships based on his centuries of serving guest from different eras and parts of the world would be very interesting.