#TDLR; thierry IS regretful of having ruined that woman. he is. he didn't know she wasn't his own AI for the longest time

[vellichorom]

how did rosemary forgive the thierry? do they have any long lasting trauma for it? how did thierry then act towards rosemary after figuring out they're real?

addressing the last question first ~

so the thing is- rosemary was FINALLY recognized as a real person / " the true player " if you will, during --i think you can guess-- the game's " Not Stanley Ending. "

( which is less an official ending to their parable & was just. something that happened to them. but the discussion of " what was a legitimate, meant-to-happen game ending for them " vs " what was just an impromptu, horrible event " will have to wait another time )

so upon rosemary disobediently pulling the phone cord from the wall during what was Supposed to lead to the " Apartment Ending ", thierry acted as you'd expect from canon; thinking ( dumbly ) that " stanley " was only JUST usurped by this player figure, & gradually getting all the more frustrated that things weren't going back to normal quick enough, nor the way that he wanted.

however.

cut to them having exhausted all attempts at trying to set things right, escalating to thierry having a pissfit & trying to wholly trash the game. as both him & rosemary stand in the rubble of the office, with him mourning his story, thierry snaps & attempts to remove this " pesky player " manually through the code of the game.

that's when he'd realize that rosemary, real person she was, had been there ALL along. that there was absolutely NO trace of stanley in the game anymore, none that he could find, anyway - & there HADN'T been since he first LAUNCHED the game.

meaning, of course, that this very Real, very Human person who was REALLY just supposed to be behind a screen, playing his game, had been subjected to every bit of venom he'd ever thrown at- what he thought was just an AI. " stanley. " said venom including, violent deaths. hands-on ones, primarily.

& though i've said he's the desensitized sort that wouldn't really be affected by such a thing USUALLY, the moment that realization sunk in- the thought that he was truly a Murderer, & a monster overall?

the man had never known such agony before.

killing the AI was never supposed to mean anything or hold any real consequence, but killing a HUMAN BEING is a different story- & he'd done it EXCITEDLY, COUNTLESS times, MERCILESSLY, HANDS-ON where he couldn't avoid accountability. now, where death had never meant anything to him before, it now meant EVERYTHING.

the game would reload, leaving rosemary enitirely alone in the office as thierry disappeared. to " process the new information. " ( have a violent meltdown & thrust himself into heavy denial )

took a full reset of the game or two for him to come back. & when he DID, things were. awkward, to say the least. after all, how do you come back from THAT. how could he face her now, knowing the weight of her existence in the office? feeling the weight of his own crimes?

but somehow... they got along. they moved on, past it. rosemary was treated less like thierry's puppet & more like a genuine person. thierry walked on eggshells & attempted to use his every breath to redeem himself & apologize. somehow, things gradually began to improve from there.

eventually, they'd come to be on good terms. eventually, they'd become friends. eventually, they'd pine for each other. eventually, they'd date, & even get married at some point, years after the fact.

despite said years still being filled with bloodshed... but it's LONG since been a real crime to them, now it's their fun game. it's what they do on their date nights. it's what they do to relax. for recreation. now they BOTH enjoy it. it's horrible- but they've made it work.

but thierry comes to Forget about the fact that it wasn't ALWAYS the fun & games they've since made it out to be.

rosemary doesn't.

& rosemary doesn't forgive him for it.