#you may have picked up the job to organize Albrechts Excel sheets

[alteredsilicone]

My interpretation is that their gap in status set the tone for their relationship right off. Yeah! I am always keeping that thought in the back of my head, because they are both from the actual Orokin era and as per Orokin rules it basically goes like: Albrecht can do whatever he wants and Loid has to follow or he can find out what happens when he doesn't. The Orokin are not shy about disposing of unwanted servants and even though Loid is probably a Valuable Asset (tm), he also knows his place. I think that WitW is Loid's slow-motion breakdown and it's him being more explicit about his anxiety and fear and dissatisfaction than he had ever, ever been during their active relationship

Definitely. Calling back to my first point - Loid is making a lot of demands for someone who, in his social status, absolutely should not be doing it. Ripping the page out of the Grimoire, saying he is tired of "Albrecht's endless justifications" (so they HAVE talked about their feelings, but we know what Albrecht is like, so he was probably self-flagellating the entire time and Loid at one point just got Fed Up (also goes in line with your last point how Albrecht knows what to say and when to get what he wants)). These two DESPERATELY needed a time separated from one another so they can actually sit down and assess their feelings, ok, Albrecht is stuck in 1999 so he probably isn't out there pontificating, but Loid definitely is now free to actually be honest with himself.

We're all having fun with the old man yaoi so nobody wants to point it out, but do you think that once Albrecht involved Loid in his heretical/illegal research (alchemy, stealing the Archon shards, pirating warframes, etc) Loid ever had an option to leave? To get out of the Murmur insanity?

Here's my hot take - if Loid tried to leave, it would end with a murder-suicide. Like, he knows way too much and I do think that at this point Albrecht and Loid have developed a co-dependant relationship, and also Albrecht already tried to kill himself once. I'm also all for Old Man Yaoi and the cutesy lovey-dovey stuff (I mean it's all I've drawn so much lmfao, I'm a sucker for fluff), but I am fully willing to engage with reality and call a spade a spade. I understand their relationship has to be sanded down to appeal to normies OR we are kinda past all the terrible red flags and steering into a slightly better, healthier direction (and by healthy I mean comparing a nasty sore to the bubonic plague). Returning to point two - Loid has finally had space to actually air out his genuine frustrations without fear of retaliation or just the fact he cannot even properly disengage from Albrecht, aside from maybe running off into the labs.

It's my headcanon that Albrecht had never been as explicitly expressive as he is in their final moments with the selectable line; he had never said anything like "my Loid" before. It's a clear reflection of Loid's own endearment for him ("my Albrecht").

The last page of the Grimoire basically confirms it, Albrecht himself confesses that he neither paid attention or spoke his feelings to Loid, despite acknowledging how important Loid is and fawning over him in his notes.

Honestly Albrecht mimicking/reflecting Loid is so interesting because it once again circles back to the first and second point and the whole Orokin/non-Orokin dynamic… Like, hello Loid, why are YOU the one making a possessive remarks towards your Orokin master?

Orokin is as Orokin does, but I would say Loid is so painfully human ("all emotional centers fully intact" as per Necraloid), that it just rubbed off on Albrecht, but Albrecht also has so much going on (and it's not like you can change a person in one day, if at all), that it turns into the bizarre disaster of a relationship they have. Albrecht is not supposed to care about Loid this much, also he has to fight the Adversary and he has to do it alone, so he's stuck between a rock and a hard place.

the only way I can rationalize Albrecht and Loid being very clearly into one another but also being stuck at the "what are we" stage is that Loid is convinced himself that Albrecht sees him as some sort of elevated pet (doesn't help that he took Kalymos to 1999 but left Loid behind)

I mean, Albrecht might be One of the Good Ones but he is still an Orokin, so I am pretty sure Loid spent many days and many nights wondering if Albrecht truly care-cares about him. Despite the very obvious intimate turn their relationship took post Void-accident. Yeah, this man embraces you and wants to be close to you, but surely it's just some Orokin quirk... Lord knows Albrecht has poor circulation and Loid is just his human space-heater. (There has to be some level of self-delusion for Loid to mentally put a barrier between them)

Then, centuries or even millennia later, the Tenno forced Loid to come face to face with reality. He is loved, he is cared for and Albrecht made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of their love.

But also think about it - all this time, Loid was convinced he was abandoned without a second thought.