#mol x orv

[braininatankwithalaptop]

Okay, yes I'm sorry I have crossover-itis, but just stick with me here. The framing of Mother of Learning is pretty clear that Zorian's presence in the plot is akin to a rounding error in fate. Zach was chosen and Zorian stumbled into it. What if we take that meta-insertion of Zorian into Zach's plot and make it more literal?

Because I think taking some of the ideas and story beats from Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint and projecting them onto Mother of Learning would work very well.

I'm not sure on the specifics of how this would work (whether Zorian is from the "real world," whether there is a leveling system, who is the Han Sooyoung equivalent) but I do think that there are a lot of interesting themes and parallels overall to have fun with.

First of all, I think it'd be funny if Zorian's and Zach's dynamic is sort of like an inverse of Kim Dojka and Yoo Joonghyuk. Zach isn't Zorian's favorite, actually Zorian kind of hates the guy. He's way too extroverted, not very academic, and way too morally uptight to take the actions that Zorian thinks would solve the problem (maybe his favorite character is Kael? idk). But when Zorian finds himself in the story he thinks "aw beans, I have to stick to this asshole don't I?" Meanwhile Zach is very up front and clear about his interest and care about Zorian. Zorian can't understand it! Even when Zorian told Zach straight to his face that he's a work of fiction and that Zorian thinks his character arc is middling at best, he won't stop being super kind to him! It's frustrating! But none of that matters to Zach, because Zorian is (overall) a good person and has all his memories when Zach is stuck in a time loop. Besides, Zorian is like his opposite in all the good ways.

There are other elements that parallel kind of nicely and otherwise work well together. Zorian's empathy and Dokja's fourth wall. The way both those things have allowed them to understand others to a greater degree while also increasing the distance between them and people. The way both protags sacrifice themselves (at least to others) and the way it causes their friends distress.

There's a lot here, but there's so many moving pieces and liberties with both works that need to be taken to work I just wanted to broadly gesture at the connection instead of doing anything more.