>>36978900I get what you mean. I think that's what I was getting at here
>>36952803 , in that 'too much establishment' left little room for anything else this chapter, but with it's length as is advancing the plot would have made it feel bloated. I almost didn't include the second half of the night but I think that would have REALLY made it feel like chapter 1.5. That's probably just my paranoia over being an amateur writer still.
I'm glad you enjoyed that, including past selves and RM-adjacent stuff is something I feel needs a bit of a delicate touch to not come off as really lowbrow, and I thought I treaded that line a little close with Festival's stuff. I also love alt-history things so I jumped at the opportunity when I started to outline the 'why' of the plot and worldbuilding 