Target audience - beats me, really. It's kind of set up to preach to the choir, in terms of the "moral". I wrote it because I was pretty sure I could finish it (and I did), and I sorely need to learn to finish stories; I shared it because I compulsively share anything I think is remotely decent.
The general feeling I got from Key is female. I honestly don't know why that is.
Hypotheses: I myself am female. Lace, the only gendered character with a speaking role, is female. Key bakes cupcakes at one point in the story and a stereotype is at work. (I had never heard of Key the Metal Idol.)
Could be. I honestly don't know. I didn't even consciously remember Key baking cupcakes by the time the story ended and I asked myself what might have influenced me.
I also had the feeling that the story wasn't really about Key; ey just serves as an expository device. Ey has no unpredictable or even unusual reactions to anything that would establish individuality. The setting should then draw the most interest, and it didn't do enough that, because it was too vague. What is the government? How does it decide and enforce allowed research, and allowed self-mo...
ITT we talk about whatever.