IWHAT TEAL ESSENCE ACRUALLY DOES and what Samin gift is
I was rereading and started wondering what TEAL actually does because so far we're basically told it's random.
But what if it isn't? What if it gives you a power based on what you want the most? Like your actual deepest desire even if you don't consciously realize it.
Think about Sayeon. Even before getting her power she's constantly regretting things and wanting to change what happened. So what does she get? The ability to go back and try again. Sleepacross even described her gift as both ideally suited to her and the cruelest power she could have received, specifically mentioning her perfectionism. And then there's the godling asking what she REALLY wants, not accepting her whole world peace answer.
But it's not just her. The dude Sang mentioned who could put his mind into someone else's body? What if he hated being himself and desperately wanted to be someone else? The one who talked to birds, maybe he was a lonely kid whose closest connection was his pet and he just wanted to talk to it. Obviously I'm making up possible backstories here but you get what I mean. Even Vigenere's Circle of Secrecy could come from wanting privacy or wanting to keep something safe and hidden.
The powers look unrelated because everyone wants different things. That doesn't mean the thing that gives them those powers is random too.
And that's where Samin comes in. Everyone goes straight to time stop because of Sayeon but the godling literally calls out her obsession with control over herself and everything around her. And there's something else really important about her, she believes love is the most important thing and she loves Sayeon.
So what I think is that Samin can impose her will within a limited space. Like she can make rules and everything inside has to follow them. She decides who can move, what people can do and who the rules aplies to basically "inside this space things happen on MY terms."
To me that fits both things about her she wants control but she also wants Sayeon to be safe, so her gift gives her a space where she can personally decide what happens.
Why a specific area though? Her scene with the godling is what made me think of it. She controls her mental space and treats it as her own dominion. What if her actual gift lets her do something similar in the outside world?
Also look at how they each meet the godling Sayeon has her childhood plush toy and a wishing well, literally a place where you ask for something you can't make happen yourself meanwhile Samin has a throne and treats the place like she owns it lol. Sayeon wishes things could be different, Samin wants to be the one deciding could just be symbolism but I think it fits this theory pretty well.
And Vigenere's Circle of Secrecy already gives us a teal ability that restricts something within an area so that part wouldn't be coming out of nowhere either.
This could even fit the time stop theory people already have. If she decides nothing in her area can move except her, wouldn't that look like time stop to everyone watching? The things people noticed could still be right, just with a different explanation. What looks like stopping time would only be one thing she can do with her gift.
Sayeon wants to go back and change what happened. Samin wants to decide what gets to happen in the first place.
Idk I think teal being based on your deepest desire would make a lot of sense. It would explain why all these powers seem so random while still giving them something in common.