Happy ETI day, everyone! 🥰
Another episode that requires a trigger warning! Please think about your mental health first, and I'll see you in the next one if this is a bit too much!🤍
The next episode will be a fun one to make up for the dark path we took for a bit. Nevertheless, I think these chapters add a lot of important context to Bloom's trauma.
I'm really excited to share this episode with you! I'm personally so proud of how it turned out, especially the writing, as I really had to challenge myself. I hope you can see the effort I put in, and I can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts! I'll see you after the episode for the discussion!
It's a long one, so strap in!
*Spoilers ahead*
The episode starts where we left off last time, with Avalon's manipulative kiss. There was indeed a reason that it was included. The kiss itself was another form of manipulation; it caused Bloom to think everything was her fault, which ensured her silence. It ensured that she was too ashamed and scared to tell anyone about Avalon's actions. Sadly, a tactic that works all too well.
Soon after, the first transformation happened. Bloom being completely under the control of the Shadow virus for the first time. And, of course, Avalon comes to save the day. Now Bloom is fully dependent on him. Now she feels even safer with him because he was able to help her when no one else could. Neither her friends nor any of the other professors could prevent the worst from happening, but Avalon could. He was there during one of the most terrifying moments in her life to save her. I think this was the point where his grasp on her became truly solidified.
I wondered if the trip to the Wildlands was good or bad for Bloom while writing this episode. Would she have missed Avalon and returned to him more eagerly? Or did it help to loosen his grip on her for a moment? I'm curious to hear what you all think about this! Despite what the answer may be, after the trip, she returned to him anyway. I wanted to highlight this to show how strong his grasp on her was by then. Even when reunited with her boyfriend and her friends, even in a moment of clarity, she was still right back in that office as soon as they returned. I think this was his main purpose as a spy, as a failsafe of some sort. If the Trix failed, it became his responsibility to obtain whatever it was Darkar needed. He made sure to always maintain everyone's trust and access to anything inside Alfea. There was always an opportunity to get Bloom alone if the need arose.
The silence and inaction of Avalon is another form of manipulation. This time, Avalon made Bloom question her own memory. Did that kiss even happen? He hadn't touched her at all and kept the distance between them professional—he was back to the gentle professor Avalon, like always. Right?
Which created the perfect moment to capture her in her confusion.
I never quite understood what that ball of magic was supposed to do in the original. Bloom described it as just feeling 'negative'. So I decided to remove it; it seemed to serve no purpose other than to pad out the scene a bit. Instead, I wanted Bloom to attempt to fight back, as Bloom never goes down without a fight. In the original, the moment of her capture looked so easy and quick, which is a bit of a disservice to Bloom, in my opinion. Of course, Avalon was prepared for this. To stop her transformation and knock her unconscious, I was thinking about multiple possibilities, like spells or some kind of potion. But wounding her Nexus seemed to work wonderfully! I think it ties back nicely to the lore in season 1 episode 19.
Then Bloom wakes up on that table. In the show, she doesn't look particularly scared, or at least not terrified. But I feel like even Bloom would be afraid in that moment. Waking up in a strange environment, bound to a metal table, impossible to burn her way out of. Even the way she was restrained resembled the preparations for dissection on an operating table. I wanted to focus on those elements of horror and enhance them further, and make the reader momentarily feel Bloom's terror of immobilisation.
The full transformation into Dark Bloom is also something I wanted to flesh out more. We all know Dark Bloom as this baddie, which she is, but I can only imagine how invasive it must be. Since Bloom was able to hear Sky, even when under control, she must have been aware of what was happening a little. Losing control of your body and actions must be absolutely horrifying. To add to this aspect of horror—the horror of losing control—I wanted to describe it as something invading her. Like a parasite that enters her and buries itself deep within the core of her magic.
I do hope this episode clarifies my end goal for this story for many of my readers. That Dark Bloom is not here to stay with Valtor, and that she is an entity that needs to be destroyed. Just in case there was still any doubt, haha. 😆