To The Moon [Steam Version]
spaghettiguardian for Isabelle
Isabelle is a character in To The Moon. She, with River, has Asperger's Syndrome; however, she was diagnosed early in her life, and also learned how to act "normal" to deal with the world around her. During the game, Isabelle defines 'normal' as 'Neurotypical', a popular term used in real life by Autistic People overall, 'Aspies' or otherwise. Neurotypical is a term often used by people with neurological disabilities, like Autism and Down Syndrome, to define people who do not have any neurological disabilities at all, and, therefore, don't understand the lives, needs, and etc. of the neurologically disabled as the neurologically disabled themselves do.
Isabelle is the one that doesn't show her face on the profile picture.
Everyone with it is different, John. Just because she and I share the syndrome, doesn't mean we share the same head.
[John: "But you must be able to help somehow. . . everything was okay at first, but now, she's even more aloof than before. Even when we're in the same room, she's never really . . . there. It's starting to take a toll on me. I just don't know how to take it anymore."]
Well, I can't speak for her, but many of us do long for connections. . . though, being able to articulate it is a different story. Just because she struggles to express it, it doesn't mean she doesn't feel anything. She's still there, right?
For one, I was diagnosed when I was still young. With effort, it's not impossible to acquire a guise of social norms systematically. But you know what? I both envy and pity River. Me . . . I'm an actress, because I've been doing it all my life. Not only on-stage, but off-stage . . .and at practically every moment. I've gotten good at it, because acting is the only option I have. It's the only way for me to be 'normal'.
But River . . . She never did that. She remained an outcast and refused to learn to step against it. . . I don't know if it was by choice or by limit, whether bravery or cowardice. There are days when I just can't stand faking it anymore. And then, I realize that it's too late. The Isabelle that people know of is all an act, and the real me has long become a stranger.
