A Very Confused Question! (Patreon)

Alright, ladies, gents, and those who are both or neither! I mentioned in yesterday's release of chapters for A Very Confused Pokémon Adventure that I had something that required a discussion post. This is that post, and some of you may very well have guessed at the content already, based on some of the bits in the last few chapters. That said, this sort of contains spoilers, though only sort of, so I suggest reading the most recent chapters first!

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Still here? Right! So, I'm having a bit of a problem. I, entirely accidentally and mostly as a result of humorous comments that snowballed, ended up making Zoey super thirsty. The original plan for this fic was to hold off on anything lemony until after Kanto, at minimum, as pushing any lemon content into the next region would have put 2Bs physical development into the 'over 18' range.

The problem with that plan at this point is that...well...2B isn't really the age she appears. This is the spoilery bit, as I had her contemplate this very thing within the story. Androids in Nier are born/created with a fully adult mind, as far as I can tell. Nor are they actually innocent about the idea of relationships or sex. One of the Operator Units in Automata talked about trying to get a date and was depressed they got turned down. Not to mention that Androids could canonically elect to have anatomically correct bits installed if they so chose. Pretty strongly implying that at least some of them were getting some...use...out of those bits.

Little factoids like this are why I've consistently depicted 2B as being aware of relationships, sex, and sexuality, just not experienced with them. Since the YoRHa Combat Models were strongly pushed to suppress emotions, 2B never did anything with that knowledge and, in fact, actively pushed down anything involved with those concepts. Hence her not really understanding them and trying to grapple with that bit of being human.

This creates a little bit of a confused situation. Somewhat intentionally, I might add, given one of the main points of the story was to explore the 'What is Human?' question typical of Nier, but in a less dark/depressing way. I intended 2B to fumble and need to work it all out over time, which is exactly what she's doing. Originally, however, I intended it to take long enough that the 'physical age' bit wouldn't be relevant until after it didn't matter one way or another.

Then I accidentally made her girlfriend Ultra Horny.

This is increasingly becoming a bit of a problem, because 2B isn't the sixteen and a half(ish) that she looks. Not mentally. She's aware Zoey is attracted to her, aware what that means, and not really against it. The only real reason she's putting it off is because she's grappling with the human/social/societal/cultural element she doesn't fully grasp, having intellectually observed that humans consider sex to have emotional and contextual meanings she doesn't properly understand.

Which is a much weaker excuse than my normal hard rule that I don't depict sex scenes for characters 'under 18.' Full stop. The problem, when you come right down to it, is that I can't actually put an age to 2B. She is, intentionally, all over the place in her personal development. In some ways she's probably mentally older than Oak, in others she's arguably as young as her physical body. If I stick to my original plan, it isn't really an issue, as she'll be physically near or over the age of eighteen that I normally adhere carefully to.

The problem is that...well...its feeling increasingly illogical to stick to that plan, because 2B isn't really the age she looks, and her issues are more about understanding than anything. A slow ramp up and exploration of the idea honestly fits the narrative better, but would likely cause the story to dip into lemon content before 2B's body/identity are over the normal line in the sand.

Which leaves me a bit uncertain how I should play it. I could, arguably, treat 2B like she's already old enough and simply slowly dip into lemon content, likely ending up with full lemons by the time the Indigo conference ends (while 2B is only 17). Conversely, I could go one of two conservative routes as well. Either putting it all off entirely (poor Zoey!) until my original goal in the next region. Or, alternatively, cheating a bit with a middle road and having them get involved but pulling 'fade to blacks.'

Personally, I kinda dislike the fade to black option the most, even if it's the middle road solution, simply because it actively takes away from 2B's exploration of who she is. Exploring that aspect of her humanity is just as much part of her question of 'What is Human?' as anything else, and the 'fade to black' angle kinda cheats her out of that. Yet, the original plan is now narratively a bit weak and getting weaker as Zoey and 2B get closer. While the other option to just go ahead and delve (slowly) into adult content is...potentially problematic. Mostly because she is physically under the age most people are comfortable with adult content being depicted at. Normally, myself included.

My own complete indecision on the topic is why I'm bringing this up to you, my patrons. I want to hear your own arguments one way or another, in an attempt to resolve my own thoughts on the matter. Note, however, that I will flat out ignore you if your entire argument is based on The Power of Horny™. If your entire reasoning is 'I want to see sexy times with 2B sooner!,' I will treat your opinion as dubious and throw it out. I've already had a bunch of people try to argue for one night stands, giant harem, and a dozen different kinks for 2B. Wanting to see that is not a valid argument to me in this case, as I'm legitimately trying to have 2B explore the whole 'What is Human?' thing in a way that is still narratively interesting. This particular fic isn't just for porn, even if the internet is...

Anyway! Let me know what you think!