#hope youve been doing well too!! sorry this took a bit to answer hdfjksdg got carried away by a lot of things

[rsmrymnt-tea]

I do recommend Blooming Panic if you find you have the time. The writing is so good and the voice acting is just *chefs kiss*

But yeah!! It takes place in a fan server!! Much easier to be secretly dead when you don't have to see anyone in person, I'll say.

Morgen wouldn't know that they're dead. Or at least, not in the beginning. They're stuck in this cycle of go to work, come home, feed the cat, check for Bloomic updates, rinse&repeat. And then they join the server, and the people are lovely, and they've really connected to one member in particular. And suddenly they have something to look forward to after a long day of work. Suddenly their life is looking up.

There would be subtle clues, but nothing explicit: Morgen mentions how it feels like they've done the exact same task at work for the past week, how their work load hasn't diminished at all; they can't answer questions about what they had for lunch or dinner, or even how they slept (and they wonder when did they last sleep?); they apologize occasionally for sounds that the other person can't ever seem to hear; and if you look in the background of their apartment you can see a fruit bowl on the counter full of rotten fruit.

The most explicit thing would be that the closer Morgen gets to realizing the truth, the more video calls distort, the harder it is for them to talk in the server, or even interact with physical things.

I think the full potential of ghost!MC is realised on Quest's route. Because you see, MC's shitty stalkerish ex joins the server in this one. The one person in the server who knows Morgen irl...

Initially he wouldn't know that Morgen is dead. He'd harass them in the server, and generally act how he does in canon. And then Morgen spends several days at work without realizing. Time just slips them by, because they don't want to have to talk to him in the server. In the meantime he'd start looking for them irl.

And when he finds out he comes into the server absolutely furious. How dare they pretend to be his dead ex, how dare they humiliate him by letting him think they were them?!? And he'd drop the death certificate in the chat....

The angst of thinking that your life was finally getting bearable and maybe even good, only to find out that you missed your chance? Especially if the date on the certificate is recent too oml.

Anyway. Of all the LIs I could only potentially see Nightowl as willing to stay with a ghost!MC, but that's the bad ending D: They get attached to each other in such a way that Nightowl becomes the reason that Morgen is unable to move on, and he's unable to move on from them. They haunt each other!!

I do think I'll probably make Morgen's canon that they're a coma ghost trying to figure out whether they want to wake up? Though maybe for angst's sake they don't remember the server members when they wake up. Everyone having to contend with the fact that Morgen has been a ghost the entire time they've known them skdjsks

Uhh I didn't mean to talk so much about it sjdk I hope you don't find this too boring!! And y'know I think everyone has a pain or sensation that they just can't handle. Personally, I absolutely fall apart at the seams if I'm even a little bit nauseous I just can't deal with it at all. So no shame in being taken out by headaches okay? They really suck and I'm glad you're feeling a bit better.

- 🐝

Might give Blooming Panic a shot one day though for now I don’t think I should get into anything else to fixate on >.< Very glad I can’t actually play TWST or even Guild Wars 2 right now tbh I think I would just be lost to world…

And this whole concept!! It’s not boing at all asdfakdfj Even without really knowing the overall story or really what the characters are like this is so enthralling to me. Just the concept of a ghost that still functions like the living—but not quite—up until they realize what their true fate is/was?? I love it so much ;w;

Though I’m really curious as to what kind of ghost dead!Morgen is and how it sounds like they can live their life like normal and physically interact with their environment without freaking people out with the fact that they’re still ‘around’? It sounds like a mix of a lingering impression a person has in the spaces they’ve frequented and lived in, but also not quite? (Perhaps they died alone and sudden, their body yet to be found. And so they get to live as if nothing happened a bit longer, up until their body is found and the news of its discovery reaches them via the shit ex?)

The coma ghost is so interesting… I’ve never heard of that concept before!! And if it’s Thing there then that’s why Morgen can carry on with their normal life as it was when they were awake? Assuming that that’s how you’re gonna do it dsfjksdf I’d love to hear you elaborate more on how this works! Ghosts… I Am So Into It honestly, there’s always been something about the inherent tragedy of meeting and befriending a ghost that gets me >.<;; Even without really knowing what any of the characters are like it so??? The whole thing is sad for everyone, and the best ending I could see for dead!Morgen is them all helping them make peace with their fate somehow in their own way

(With the bad endings all varying from what you said with nightowl, to one of them just cutting Morgen out of their life leaving them to have this One Attachment that prevents them from moving on, Morgen passing on with the knowledge that they’re now hated by their LI, etc ;n;)

SO much potential for something like a part 2 to everything once Morgen wakes up with their memories of the LIs gone too! Thinking about how they approach Morgen after they realize that Morgen’s a come ghost about to wake up would probably depend on their interactions while they were still a ghost… Some probably choose to try and help them remember, or some act like nothing happened… Idk if any are the type but some could also just leave the server and cut ties with Morgen + everyone after that?

Anyway anyway rest assured this wasn’t boring at all!! I’m looking at the tag and realizing that this is the same ‘bloomic’ that I’ve been seeing a little bit around sometimes and feeling like an idiot for not connecting sdfjsd