One thing that really gets me about Urianger comforting Minfilia in Amh Araeng is that when she says Thancred hates her, Urianger never actually says, no, he doesn't. He says instead, none of this is your fault, and the original Minfilia wouldn't hold anything against you, and in typical Urianger form he says some things about fate and faith, and his words are kind and beautiful--but he also completely sidesteps the question of how Thancred feels about her.
And I think this moment is very reflective of Urianger's relationship to Thancred and child!Minfilia as a whole. It reflects what we see when we first see all of them together in Il Mheg.
Urianger knows that the way Thancred behaves toward the girl is hurting her. He's spent enough time around the two of them to see that plainly. Theoretically, he could say something to Thancred about it; they're obviously close friends, and if Thancred was going to value anyone's opinion, it would be his. But he doesn't say anything, because he still feels guilty and responsible for all of it: about their Minfilia going to the First and what happened to her there, and thus for what both Thancred and child!Minfilia are going through now. Even though Thancred has never outright blamed him for it (however he may feel privately, which I think is hard to say), it seems like Urianger still feels like he has no right to say anything.
So he tries to compensate instead. He's kind to Minfilia, connects with her in his own way and gives her books, and by the time we see them together he's obviously become something of a familial figure to her. I would say that he and Thancred aren't so much raising her together as they're doing it... around one another. Thancred is gruff and cold and holds Minfilia at arm's length emotionally so that his protectiveness comes off harshly even when it's well-meant, and Urianger dotes on her and tries to make up for it all while avoiding the actual problem.
So that conversation in Amh Araeng is both touching and maddening to me, and it really drives home what's maddening about it when, upon overhearing it, the Warrior of Light turns to Thancred to ask him if he has anything to say to Minfilia--who has just said, out loud, that she thinks Thancred wishes she was dead--and Thancred just says, "Not today."
And so they both go on avoiding the actual problem, for just a little longer.
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From the beginning | Previously | Coin standings | 8/18 | 22/23
(The results of this poll show us the players' priorities- but they've also been hard at work coming up with some specifics. HYENAS RETREATED summarizes some of the points discussed:)
Walter recalls a rumor- Ferninit University's medical department has been developing a soul-engineered healing plant, in a place known as... the TRENDED PENTAGRAM, if he recalls correctly. If the plant exists as a raw datasoul, they might be able to find it in there, and rely on it for food and healing.
It's on the way, too- they'll need to head back to the university to access its network and find more information on their condition. It's starting to sound like a plan- so you get moving, flying away from the ghost ship and back to the mainland, towards the overgrown ruins.
The WIFI ACCESS POINT is still installed, and the two remaining files can still be accessed.
ITCHY? AHA! RE-STAB REAR OF DRYER THE RAID ARRAY OF CYBERHEARTS is enlightening. The datasoul of the world, it seems, is stored on multiple redundant disks, used for error correction when parts of the world get damaged. When a datasoul is damaged and becomes a bug... unlike a normal RAID disk, where fresh data is overwritten on top of the damaged data, Cyberhearts seems to swap the damaged and fresh data, via a process called TENDERER REFORM. Something called the Infinity Server Unit supposedly spans all these disks, and dispatches data validators to clean up bugs and ensure the backup disks stay in accord.
...but there's a few obvious problems. Some are brought up by the file's author, one BASIC RESEARCH, who notes that information about the Infinity Server Unit is heavily restricted by the government. It's ostensibly a physical machine hidden somewhere in the city, but there's no civilian research access to it, and it's unclear who it was constructed by or why. Or, for that matter, how the world worked before the machine was built- or how it determines what a "bug" is for the purposes of swapping it out. The author has determined that there's a thing called YEP, INTENDED INTENT that's exempt from this swapping process, and human beings fall inside that category.
But moreover... if these data validators are supposed to be cleaning up bugs... well, this place is crawling with them, and the only one you've seen this whole time only went after Walter when he damaged the environment. Whatever cleanup is supposed to be taking place... clearly isn't. And furthermore- if the two of you are YEP, INTENDED INTENTs, how did you end up here? You're... not bugs, right?
Reading IF TEMPERATE, REPORT BOZOISM PROPERTIES OF ZOMBIE MATTER doesn't help clear up matters. This paper, by TROJAN HORSE, describes TOM, TIME ZEBRA- a form of matter that has no datasoul. It doesn't seem to occur in nature, but rather is produced by a YEP, INTENDED INTENT to paper over discrepancies between their datasoul and the IMAGERY DUELER DEMIURGE LAYER, the collective hallucination that we perceive as "reality". Someone whose datasoul is a snake may occasionally "step on" objects as if they had feet.
TOM, TIME ZEBRA, however, can't be observed being produced by the body. It seems to materialize independent of a bodily process, as if it were already there in the world- and then vanish as soon as it's no longer needed. It can be harvested, isolated, and stabilized- as well as created in a lab via a process known as A PLEDGE MOVEMENT. It's possible to create physical objects out of the zebra which cannot be perceived without the DEMIURGE LAYER.
(TROJAN HORSE theorizes that the world as we understand it is an expression of the world-soul through the medium of TOM, TIME ZEBRA, but that the same world-soul could express itself differently through differently-arranged matter. There's loads of equations that kind of go over both of your heads.)
...whoof! That's a lot of technobabble! You have no idea how to use any of that, really.
You decide to go looking for that healing tree, and proceed to the TRENDED PENTAGRAM. You're not sure why, or if, it's called that- but it's kind of dicey down here. The bugs are out in force- Adea's taken that sword Walter found in the holy tower, and is handily fending off dust storms of discarded chalk. Living roots from the ceiling keep grabbing at you, and darts and bats fly through the air wildly. It's irritating, but Adea's capable with a blade.
[ed: Also these are, like, chapter 1 enemies, so it's not like they were going to really pose that big of a threat, let's be real. Well... except maybe the big one.]
You duck into various classrooms and laboratories, having very little luck- until you finally find a room with a giant tree, branches laden with heart-shaped apples. This is probably what you're looking for! Maybe you can finally get it all sorted out, health-wise.
...But it's guarded by RR. An R, and an R. Two giant letter Rs, with sharp fangs, which haven't noticed you yet, but definitely will if you try to raid the tree. That, and... some other beasties.
Some sort of DIRECTION DISC, like an evil frisbee, is homing in on you to try to slice you in half with its razor-sharp edge and razor-sharp sense of direction!
The ghost of someone's target practice- a SKEET PHANTASM- rises up to take its bloody revenge by turning you into target practice! Watch out!
That illness babies sometimes get that makes them cry too much? It's prepared for combat. How can you fend off such a seasoned BATTLE COLIC?
Watch out- there's MONK TEETH AHEAD! This martial artist has realized that chompers, not fists or feet, are the deadliest weapon of all- and is determined to prove it by biting the hell out of you.
You might think that a mouse isn't that dangerous, but you would be wrong- A RODENT IS CAUSTIC! If it catches you, its bite will probably deal a ton of acid damage. Or Wash damage.
To be continued | 8/18 | 19/20
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