#so i guess your ship shouldn’t stay canon or relevant either then right? YOU KNOW BECAUSE OF THE ACTIONS OF THE SHIPPERS!~ xoxo

[cafecitoeddie]

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[boycottyashahime]

Alright, so I’m bad at Tumblr, and though I wanted to just reblog the original post from @strawberrycreampiefluff and put most of it under a cut or perhaps find a way to trim it, I couldn’t find a way to make it work. So, we’re starting a new thread. Here’s the link the other one if anyone reading hasn’t been following the discussion and want to catch up: https://strawberrycreampiefluff.tumblr.com/post/625063196626223104/what-do-you-think-of-this-whole-ppl-shipping

Anyhow, since we discussed this beforehand, I’ll start from the beginning, only working with the storytelling elements from the series, and I’ll leave out the latter part of the post regarding moralizing (which I mostly agree with anyway, so it’s no loss to me).

“I  was trying to convey that considering the methods of storywriting and telling,  it would break the “pattern” Rumiko Takashi built up and lowering the  impact of Sessh character growth he would later experience.  A father-daughter bond is not inferior to a romantic bond, but it  would seem out of place, to have both his father and brother form a  romantic relationship with a human and then Sessh breaking that pattern  by introducing a new kind of relationship-dynamic - when he is the most  crucial character in the series when it comes to demon-human relations.”

I’m still quite unclear HOW the impact of Sesshomaru’s character growth is necessarily lowered from not having a romantic bond with a human. Why is the continuation of this pattern so important, in your view, to the character’s development? From my perspective, introducing a new relationship dynamic into and breaking patterns is actually a good thing in stories - It’s a great way to add variety and a different point of view to a narrative. Having characters take a pattern in a different, unique direction can add meaning in a way the reader couldn’t see coming, give the story unexpected dimension.

And you’ve already said that you and other shippers like yourself don’t see anything romantic while Rin is still a child in the original series, so that is effectively what happened. Since we agree that the relationship wasn’t actually romantic within the context of the original Inuyasha series, Sesshomaru took a love of a human in an entirely different direction than his father or his brother did. Which conveys complexity in how youkai can relate to humans that wasn’t in the established pattern. As a reader, I find that kind of thing fun and engaging, though you may disagree.

“A father-daughter relationship would still put Sessh in a superior position to Rin (as the father), not adding a lot to his character development other than him caring for one other human being.”

I have to wince here, because while yes, technically Sesshomaru is in a superior position to Rin in a father-daughter relationship, the implication here is that this can be compared to the sense of superiority he had over humans as a whole that you referenced earlier. Is a parent-child relationship really comparable to a racist outlook? I feel like these two things are quite unrelated, having two ENTIRELY different connotations from the word “superior”. One is an entirely natural superior position, using one’s greater experience, knowledge, and ability to facilitate the growth and guidance of someone still on their way up. The other is a wholly unnatural and malicious disregard for a person based on superficial features. Sesshomaru’s superior attitude toward humans before he met Rin was not based on a paternalistic concern, but complete disgust and the notion that they were entirely unworthy of consideration. The two connotations of “superior” here are just not analogous in the greater narrative.

“In a romantic relationship, both partners should be equals (anything  other is unacceptable), for this to happen Sessh would’ve had to lower himself  (his pride) to Rins level, since he was the one with the big ego and  humans were regarded as one of the lower creatures of the food chain.”

Again, I think it is entirely possible for Sesshomaru to learn not to regard humans as “lower on the food chain” through a relationship that ISN’T romance, but that aside, this whole notion brings up a question: why didn’t Rumiko Takahashi write Rin into the story as a young adult? We’ve already discussed how romantic implications to the relationship couldn’t exist while she’s still a child in the series, and why Sesshomaru and Rin are definitely NOT equal during the series. So if it was so important for Sesshomaru to be otherwise equal to Rin so he can lower his pride and truly consider her such, why was Rin not written as a fully autonomous adult so we could cut to the chase? It seems that if what you’re describing was really Rumiko Takahashi’s intent, it would have been a lot easier if the girl was already grown up. At the very least, our dear author could have ended the series when Rin was an appropriate age to actually make the point instead of leaving it hanging.

“Doing the exact same thing he criticized his father for, which  for him would’ve been humiliating in the beginning of the series. The  sequel (if you regard it as canon) goes even farther, making him create  his own half demons - the very reason he hated his brother in the first  place. His mother even said he becomes like his father in the strangest  ways - and the only “strange” thing we know about his father was his  romantic relationship with Izayoi.”

Since English isn’t your first language, I’m guessing you’re just mistaken in the map of this sentence, but the word “strange” here is referring to Sesshomaru’s behavior in relation to his father’s. What is strange is how Sesshomaru is like his father, not his father’s ways. This actually makes the opposite point - it seems to refer to the ways in which Sesshomaru is behaving as odd, maybe in relation to a pattern his father fit into.

“That’s why I think it wouldn’t fall apart if we draw the parallel in a wider context as you say, because other characters didn’t have the same starting point  as Sessh. I very much agree with you, that Inuyasha’s platonic bonds  would also count as a dog forming close bonds with humans, but in  Inuyasha’s or Shippou’s case, they didn’t need the same character  development like Sessh, since they had a different attitude towards  humans or “lesser-beings” in the first place (Inuyasha was even past the  stage of lowering himself, also out of romantic reasons btw, since he  was ready to become human for Kikyo).”

I’m curious as to how the parallel and pattern matter if it’s null and void because Inuyasha and the other characters we talked about have different character arcs. Of course they aren’t starting from the same place as Sesshomaru, characters never do. They’re varied and diverse because it would be boring as tar to write them all going through the same issues. My point about the parallel was that even if it could be said that there’s some similarity in how dog YOUKAI form bonds with humans to actual DOGS, it’s not really a good parallel, because there are other “species” of youkai much less friendly with humans doing it too. I’m having trouble understanding what this argument has to do with that.

In reference to the above, I agree, the example characters you cited didn’t have the same level of dismissive racism as Sesshomaru did (I say “same level” because Shippou does carry a bit of prejudice, even as a small child), but when that’s apparent, why is the pattern even relevant? Since the characters aren’t set to all learn the same lesson, their relationships shouldn’t really resemble each other’s in the long run either, should they? Writers use relationships as tools for character development, and they usually want to use the right tool for the right job. Maybe romantic love with a human was right for Inuyasha because he had issues with vulnerability and reconciling his half-heritage. What if SESSHOMARU benefited more as a character from an unconditional bond (free from the conditions of sexual/romantic attraction) to demonstrate to him how even the weakest creature is incomprehensibly valuable for reasons impossible to articulate, and they are worth using his incredible level of “superior” power to protect and defend them? It’s a different kind of humbling oneself than what you were talking about, but I think it’s just as meaningful, and it fits Sesshomaru’s character development neatly into the the original text. It doesn’t require Sunrise make a sequel more than a decade later to wrap up the character development that Rumiko Takahashi meant to do when Rin grew up even though she could have just written her in as an adult in the first place.

“But Rin will obviously not always stay 8/11 years old, she will grow  into her own person and become a woman (while living apart from Sessh),  creating a completely different power dynamic with Sessh. One that would  still be an imbalance, but much different than when she was a child.”

As far as the narrative was concerned, Rin COULD very well have stayed a child forever, though. She was written as a character in a story. When the story is done, so are the characters. You’ve said before and here that Inuyasha is just fiction, and it is, but accepting that means accepting that Rin doesn’t grow up without some prompting. She doesn’t age but through the hand of a creator, fanfiction authors or Sunrise. When you say she’s not going to stay 8-11 forever, what you mean is that actual humans who experience actual time are not satisfied with her age as it stood when the story ended, and actively impose time upon her.

And since applying time to a fictional character is something that has to be intentional, so too do the conditions you mention to create the perfect environment for the ship. The different dynamic that isn’t father-daughter, but still a little bit of not-weird power imbalance. The “lowering” of Sesshomaru’s ego in that specific romantic way (that I’m still not sure I understand, but we’ll go with it). The way in which the romance is developed without either character realizing it so that Sesshomaru can’t be accused of using the power imbalance to manipulate a girl he’s had authority over since she was eight. Returning to what catalyzed the change in Sesshomaru in the first place while carefully treading around the fact that it was built upon an unconditional relationship that now suddenly has conditions on it. That’s a lot of mental legwork to do, which is fine, because that’s part of creative expression. But you have to acknowledge that none of this would be necessary if the pairing were “obvious”.

It certainly wasn’t very obvious to some of us. We came to a very different conclusion, saw everything a bit differently. Now we’re being punished for having a less popular interpretation of this relationship, shut down by SUNRISE and told that we don’t get to have that interpretation, because they’re considered an authority on what is canon in Inuyasha, and they’re taking sides to squeeze more money out of the Inuyasha franchise with a next-gen sequel. It doesn’t seem to matter that Sunrise was never really very good at telling Inuyasha stories, or that next-gen sequels never seem to be any good for lack of stakes and boring plots.

Sunrise’s interpretation is still considered to be more “valid” than ours. And that really hurts. So, if you found yourself wondering why there’s so much vitriol coming from the anti camp, it’s a combination of this, and the fact that they don’t really have the option of avoiding the content they don’t like anymore. It’s kind of EVERYWHERE now.

So, there we are. I don’t want to give the impression from the above that I’m trying to tear apart your arguments to somehow discredit the pairing. Shippers gonna ship, whether it makes sense to me or not. But I did want to highlight how any of the things you bring up can very well be interpreted entirely differently.

Hope you’re doing well, and you did well on that exam. :)

[journeysintowebcomics]

Homestuck Liveblog #188

UPDATE 188: Postscript

Last time Dirk had flown out of the planet with Rose, letting Jade wake up and Dead Calliope control the narrative again. Now what? Let’s check out the end of the meat epilogue!

It doesn’t take long for them to start their planning, that night Jade is already home and Roxy is getting leads about where Dirk is. Jake, still heartbroken over the loss of Dirk forever, tells her Dirk has left the planet. Will he join them? Not likely, I’d say. They’re so dedicated to getting leads about where Dirk may have gone Kanaya even decides to call Jane, even though La Presidenta is persona non-grata in this household.

How is it possible a conversation about incest is possibly the longest conversation in this epilogue? Not really much to get from this, except that Dave doesn’t have any shame in showing public displays of affection. I guess now that he has gotten Karkaroni as a boyfriend officially any inhibitions about the matter are gone. Heck, even though Karkaroni protests it’s not like he doesn’t dislike it, I’d say.

ROXY: awwwwwww

ROXY: u boys cute :)

DAVE: hey can you just forget you saw that thanks

ROXY: hehe

ROXY: thank u

DAVE: for what

ROXY: for doin somethin that turned that steaming dogshit fire of an incest conversation into somethin that just made me feel v v happy

ROXY: if only for a fleetin moment in these dark AF times

KARKAT: DON’T MENTION IT

It did turn that mess of a conversation into something else, so yeah, thanks.

So, Jane either doesn’t know where Dirk is going or doesn’t want to tell. I for one am inclined to think she doesn’t know, because Dirk is a cagey person and wouldn’t just go around telling anyone his plans to make it easier for his opponents to stop him. He’ll welcome them getting in his way, but he won’t let it be too easy.

It seems only a couple people knew Terezi was back in Earth and now she’s not picking up the phone. They also wonder where John is, and Dave comments John with the retcon powers would be able to teleport them into Dirk’s spaceship. Maybe that’s why Dirk made Terezi take John’s body, so in the off-chance they manage to revive John he wouldn’t be able to take them to where Dirk is, and now that Terezi is who knows where, they can’t find John’s corpse anyway. Maybe she’s in the spaceship too, right in Dirk’s manipulative claws.

if they ever wish to see john again, be it his cadaver or otherwise, they will need another means of following the ship. a different guide altogether.

Oh, I suppose that means Terezi is in the spaceship after all.

Watching this, Dead Calliope has a change of heart and decides to lend them just a little bit of help, if only to stop the prince from doing anything. All she does is make Jade point in a direction. Ah, there we go! A compass aiming at Dirk, I bet. Now all they have to do is go in that direction – if they decide to follow Jade’s enigmatic finger pointing, that is. There’s a possibility they won’t.

DAVE: oh oh

DAVE: i think i know whats up

DAVE: shes tryin to say theres something important over that way

DAVE: is that right jade

DAVE: can you hear me??

dave walks over and kneels in front of her chair. he looks closely at her. her face, though still expressionless, strikes him as serious and tense.

DAVE: jade is it john?

DAVE: johns that way right

DAVE: you want us to go in that direction to find john

DAVE: is that it jade?

Close enough. If John’s body is up there in the spaceship then yup, he’s right. Boy, it’s going to be awful for everyone to find out John’s rotting inside a wallet.

DAVE: maybe its not john that way maybe its...

DAVE: jade is it...

DAVE: is that where DIRK went?

it’s barely noticeable, but dave picks up on it. her face relaxes slightly.

Bingo! There you go, you have your work set ahead for you. Best of luck, everyone!

Now that she has indicated the general direction of Dirk’s location, Jade returns to her inert state, doing nothing. Thankfully, Dave says they’ll have to bring Jade along, so I guess someone will be in  charge of carrying her around. Karkaroni, fired up, makes Kanaya start calling Jake so they can borrow a spaceship.

they will believe they are on a quest to retrieve a wife and rescue a friend. but they will discover their true mission is of much greater cosmic significance than they imagined. the seer is firmly in the thrall of the prince and will not easily be pried away. and as regards the heir, though resuscitation remains a theoretical possibility for those still striving for it, the truth of his role is it has reached a greater sense of narrative finality than any of his allies will bring themselves to admit. his influence over canon has come to an end, as has this particular story. his ultimate sacrifice was made to put the missing keystone in place and avert the supreme dissipation of all that shall be considered to hold truth, relevance, and essentiality.

Alright, so, reviving John is not impossible, or at least Dead Calliope doesn’t outright say it’s impossible. She does say it’s just a theoretical possibility, though, so maybe...that’s just a fancy way of saying it’s impossible? Oh well. Anyway, the important part of this paragraph is that it’s stating John’s death was a necessary thing for the continuation of existence, which I can believe, really. Honestly, I was very surprised all eight humans managed to go through Homestuck alive, I really thought one or two would die. John dying and that being necessary isn’t really a big surprise.

Maybe in the Candy epilogue he doesn’t go fight and everything is destroyed. Sure would be tragic!

That aside, it seems Dead Calliope is getting ready to leave the narrative alone, because she’s saying goodbye and saying she’ll just keep the power of narrative so Dirk can’t take it back, and give gentle hints whenever the group needs them. Someone in charge of protecting the cosmos shouldn’t get too involved with it, after all. And that’s the end of the page.

Postscript time. The text is black, so the narrative is back to normal, nobody controlling it. Elsewhere, Aradia -- wow, I had completely forgotten she existed. I guess she’s just hanging out in the emptiness nowadays – is with the Jade that fought Lord English and was sucked into a black hole. Her eyes are solid black, which I assume indicates Dead Calliope is handling things. The first order of business is to eat raw meat, because no cherub has ever heard of cooked meat, I guess. Once she’s done, she howls, and opens a hole up there in the sky.

ARADIA: i take it everything went as you hoped

Time works differently here in the middle of nowhere. Maybe by now Dirk is dead. In that case, yes, everything went as Dead Calliope hoped.

Jade looks down at her hands as if they belong to an alien. She can feel it now. Abilities have been awakened inside her that no being has ever commanded before.

The same thing Dirk and Rose were going through, perhaps? She raises her hands in direction of the black hole.

Nearby, a red haze gathers in the air. It condenses into concentric rings and spheres of ruby light. The luminous shape of a man fades into the center of the special effect. When the light subsides, Aradia notices the man is made of polished metal. She recognizes the gear symbol on his chest, identical to her own. She also recognizes the sunglasses the robot is wearing. She knows who this is.

ARADIA: dave?

DAVEBOT: sup

Well this is new. Leave it to Homestuck to introduce a weird variation of a character on the eleventh hour. First the combined sprites, now this. This is a bit concerning, given how Dirk is the robotics professional left in the story, but it also could be a development that happened in the Candy epilogue. Maybe over there instead of messing with Rose he decided to do this to Dave. I’ll find out if I’m right, when I read that epilogue.

Now that Davebot is here, Jade goes flying into the black hole, and Davebot offers to take Aradia along. It’s mentioned Sollux is somewhere, being a grouch. I also completely forgot he existed.

DAVEBOT: so thats a yes then

ARADIA: what

DAVEBOT: youre coming

DAVEBOT: better decide quick i doubt that dank fuckin hell funnel is staying open for much longer

ARADIA: yes i suppose so

ARADIA: thats where all the action is right?

DAVEBOT: all the action that matters yeah

ARADIA: off we go then :)

DAVEBOT: word

I don’t have the slightest idea what’s going on, really, but there they go. Alongside Jade, Dave and Aradia go, leaving everything else behind. The meat epilogue ends with this line:

Where the hole gaped just moments ago, there now exists an imaginary line.

Above this line resides all that matters. Below exists all else. Never again the twain shall meet.

I think I get it. Through that hole there was everything that’s in the Homestuck universe, where things will happen and life will go on. And here, outside of everything, the reader is left, unaware of what exactly is going on. There’s myriad of possibilities all happening at once in Homestuck, and we as readers won’t ever find out about them anymore. Could be some really tragic events, or maybe everything is going really well now.

Without a narrative we sure aren’t going to find out!

And that’s it. That’s the end of the meat epilogue. So, I have some thoughts to give next time, so I’ll end the update here.

Next time: next update

[ehyde]

Worlds Unseen, chapter 5

Yona’s mission to take down Hiyou and rid the Water Tribe of nadai is interrupted by the appearance of a ship floating in the sky … and by the revelation that neither Lili nor Suwon are the people she believed them to be.

(Part of a scifi au where the dragons and all of Kouka’s history are the same as in canon, but there is also a sort of alien invasion happening. And Suwon is an AI.

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / full work on ao3

Lili tapped on the wooden doorframe, carrying a pillow and blanket in her arms. “Can I stay with you tonight, Yona?”

By the time Lady Yong-hi, the human woman who knew far more than she ought to, had finished outlining her proposal to Lili, night had fallen. She didn’t ask Lili to answer right away, and Lili didn’t think she could—but she wasn’t sure she could sleep, either. Lady Yong-hi had given Lili a room to share with Ayura and Tetora, and Yona and Zeno a room of their own, but Lili wanted to be with her human friends.

“Of course, Lili.” Yona slid the door open. “Oh!” she exclaimed at the sight of Lili’s dark feathers. “You're back to yourself again!”

“It didn’t seem like you minded. It's more comfortable this way,” she explained. The holomasks that Lili and other nonhumans used to disguise their appearance were primarily visual, but they made use of some forcefields here and there, and ended up constricting and itching a little bit. Though she probably should have turned hers back on when she left her room, in case any servants saw. Oops.

“Of course I don’t mind! Actually, I'd rather see you like this.” Yona stepped back, making way for Lili to enter the room.

Zeno was still on the bed, sitting upright and grinning at her. “There's room for everyone!” he said. “Will the bird-lady’s feathers tickle, Zeno wonders?”

“Actually,” said Lili, “I don't like lying down.” Humans always looked so vulnerable when they slept. “But I can roost right next to your bed if you want.” She crouched down and arranged the pillow and blanket around herself as best she could, leaning against the side of the bed for a little extra cushioning. Once everything was in place, she puffed out her feathers and tried to get comfortable.

Zeno blinked at her. “Miss bird-lady is so cute!” He hopped down off the bed and sat cross-legged on the floor, facing her. “But you wouldn’t have come over here if you just wanted to sleep.”

Yona sat down next to Lili and reached for her hand. “Lili,” she said. “Do you think you’ll accept Aunt Yong-hi’s offer?”

It was a ridiculous idea, and Lili's answer should have been an immediate no. Introducing galactic tech and culture to Kouka on the level that Yong-hi wanted—on any level—would be far worse than anything the Company did. Lili had always believed that. But Yona and Zeno had adjusted remarkably quickly, and Yong-hi—well, she’d shown Lili something extraordinary. This house was lit by electric power. Yong-hi had taken the water wheel of an old millhouse and converted it into a primitive power plant. Of course, Yong-hi had the entire knowledge base of the planetary AI to work from, but from the sound of it, the AI hadn’t made things easy for her, not until recently. And the servants just accepted this as the product of a scholar’s eccentricities. Lili wondered what else they’d accept.

And wouldn’t this be better than being manipulated in secret? When the Galactic Alliance was happy to allow the Company to interfere here—so long as they did so in secret—the phrase ‘pre-contact’ was just a polite fiction. Yong-hi was right; there was no going back.

“Whether I want to or not, I don’t know if I even can.” She could act as living proof to the people of Kouka. That part might be awkward, but it wouldn’t be hard. But returning home, seeking out galactic citizens who would willingly violate first-contact protocols in defiance of both the government and the Company, convincing them to put their safety on the line and come here—did she really have it in her to inspire that sort of confidence? “I don’t have anything like the Water’s golden seal to make people listen to me this time.”

“You’ll find a way, I know you can,” said Yona.

“And beyond that,” Lili said, “I don’t know if I should . Forcing my world on yours—Yona, I shouldn’t make that decision. Yona, Zeno, this is your world. Do you really think—?”

“Zeno won't lie, it's a pretty scary future. If the lady is right, the world's going to change faster than it ever has before no matter what we do. So it's probably not a coincidence that the miss sought out the four dragons at this time.” Zeno looked intently at Yona. “Miss, what do you want to do?”

Yona took a deep breath. “I can’t allow the people of this world to be harmed,” she said. “But beyond that...Lili, what you originally wanted, to make the Company leave Kouka, to make everyone from your world leave us be…”

“Your aunt is probably right,” Lili admitted. “It’s probably not possible.”

“Even if it were, would it really be better that way? To hide away from the wider world, instead of reaching out to it? Lili, I spent the first sixteen years of my life locked away in that castle,” said Yona. “I had a small, safe home there, and I was content. But if I could erase everything bad that happened and go back to that life, I wouldn't. I've seen so much, met so many people. I learned that the world was more cruel than I ever dreamed, but also kinder. Everywhere I've been, I saw people reaching out to each other. So I can’t choose to stay hidden away. I want to reach back, to reach out to your world, on our own terms.”

“I...I guess I was really wrong about humans.”

“Thinking we’d be better off in the dark?” Lili nodded. “It’s alright. You were doing what you thought was best. And after saying all that...it’s not like I’m not afraid. I don’t even know how I can help you.”

“Miss will find a way!” said Zeno.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” said Lili. “You’ve helped me already.”

Even with her mind more settled, Lili still couldn’t bring herself to fall more than half asleep. It seemed that Zeno couldn’t sleep either, for about two hours after he and Yona lay down together, he rose again and tiptoed quietly out the door. Where was he going? Lili stood up and followed after him as quietly as she could.

She caught up with him as he stepped out into the central courtyard—and ran straight into the cloaked ship, falling backwards after colliding with what appeared to be thin air. “Yep, the invisible flying ship is still here,” said Zeno as he stood up. “Are you still here too, mister computer?”

In answer, the door slid open and the boarding ramp slid out. Lili tried to imagine it from a human perspective, a strange doorway to another world hovering in the air. Ayura and Tetora’s ship wasn’t equipped with external speakers as part of its comm system. If Zeno boarded the ship to speak with the AI, Lili wouldn’t be able to hear what he had to say—but he only walked halfway up the ramp, then sat down on the metal surface, facing the open door. “We can talk like this, right? Zeno doesn't want to fly away again!” Whatever response the AI gave, it was too faint for Lili to hear. She darted from the shadow of one column to another nearer the ship. “Do you know the story about King Hiryuu, mister?”

That was a popular fairy tale, right? Lili had no idea why Zeno would bring up that of all things. Though she couldn’t remember what the story was actually about. Maybe it was relevant. “Are you asking me if I’ve chosen to become human?”

“No, no, Zeno’s just asking about a story!” The human paused. “Oh, can you do that?”

“My human body could live on without me,” the AI said. “It might even think of itself as the same person. But no. I could not become human and remain who I am. More importantly, my human body alone could not do the things I need to do to protect this world. Though I do like it very much,” it added.

“Hmm,” said Zeno. “Dragon gods are a lot bigger and stronger than humans, too. But don't worry, Zeno can tell that mister computer is doing his best! You think so too, right, bird lady?”

Oops, she’d been found out. Lili stepped forward into the light pouring from the ship’s open door. “Zeno, you’re talking to a powerful AI as if you’re praising a child.”

“Of course! Aunt said that mister computer is only ten years old!”

“That’s not—computers are different when it comes to things like that, you know!”

“Probably!” Zeno agreed. He looked at Lili. “You’ve made a decision, haven’t you?”

“I want to help your planet,” Lili said. “I’ll do it. But...I heard what you were asking. I don’t know what the story you mentioned is about, but you’re worried about humans being led by someone who isn’t human, right?” She looked towards the open door of the ship—unfortunately, she didn’t remember where the ship’s visual sensors were, so it wasn’t like she could look Suwon right in the eyes. “There had better be humans involved in your plan,” she said. “You kept trying to keep Yona from finding things out, but she’s really strong! She could have helped you, if you hadn’t—” She still didn’t know what exactly it was he’d done. “Anyway. This is her world, not either of ours.”

“It’s true that I’m a product of galactic technology, but Kouka is the only home I’ve ever known. It may not be your world, but it is mine.” Lili blinked. She hadn’t considered it from that perspective, but she supposed it was true. As much as an AI had a home at all, at any rate. “Of course, the Galactic Alliance won’t recognize an emerging civilization led by anyone other than a human,” Suwon continued. “Lili, this world is going to change very quickly. I'm sure there are many humans capable of leading the Kouka it will become, but even I can't predict who they are, not yet.”

Well, Yona. Did the AI have a blind spot where she was concerned, or what? Was that even possible? But it had answered the important question. “Then—then as long as you—”

“The Company set me on Kouka's throne. I have no desire to remain there once it becomes unnecessary.”

Lili nodded. “Good.”

Zeno stood up and looked back towards Lili. “Miss bird-lady, let’s go back to bed!” Lili nodded.

“Ouryuu.”

Zeno turned around. “Oh? Does mister computer have more questions for Zeno?”

“...perhaps another time.”

“Okay!” He hopped off the side of the ramp and then bowed towards the ship. “Goodnight, mister computer!” The ramp pulled back in, the door slid shut, and the cloaked ship was once again completely hidden from view. Yona was still sound asleep when they returned, and this time, Lili had no trouble following suit.

[ghoultyrant]

FoZ Notes 6

As I don’t expect to be online tomorrow much, if at all, I’ll be posting another Notes update to keep myself on schedule.

------------------

We finally meet Eleanore. Who is an older clone of Louise, but blonde like their father. She insists Louise should have a female attendant, gives no fucks about what the attendants (Saito and Siesta) are up to. [Reader note: Kissing et al]

Due to war conditions and insufficient officers for the army, Henrietta and company close the Academy down and recruit aristocrat kids to fill slots. Osmond and "one teacher" object, but are ignored. [Reader note: I’m pretty sure the ‘one teacher’ is supposed to be Colbert, based on later events. Though really, one teacher?]

Louis is all too honored to join the army... but the Valliere family objects for some reason? Eleanore is dragging Louise home by carriage for some reason.

Albion holds court on a round table of stone. Because Arthurian legend. [Future note: Never crops up again]

Cromwell wants to banish the whole "guy announcing people as they enter" thing because "none of us stands above the other!" (Says the Emperor...) [Future note: This mildly interesting bit of characterization has no relevancy and what it suggests about Reconquistador philosophy is never built on]

Gallia has declared itself neutral in this way... but Albion is trying to talk them into being willing to backstab Germania and Tristain. No wait, they were always Secret Allies of Albion, the defeat at Tarbes just wrecked the original plan to simultaneously invade Tristain. In fact, Gallia is the party that suggested they backstab when Albion is invaded! [Future note: Surprisingly, I don’t think this is a Surprise Plot Tweest the author just made up, as later events are startlingly consistent with this scenario. Could’ve been better set up/presented, though]

Cromwell can raise the dead... and that's all he can do. At least, out of "long incantations". [Future note: Again, he’s not actually a Void mage. He’s just using the Ring of Andvari. Which, by the way, can do other things, so he’s really lame]

Say hello to Zuko. I mean. "White Menvil". Also known as "the White Flame." He's almost parodically evil and killed his own family after dishonorable behavior got his title stripped because lolevil. Albion is hiring him because lolevil.

Cromwell wants Wardes to transport Menvil and a small squad to the Academy of Magic to take nobles as hostages. Never mind that the school is closed?...

... cut to the Academy, where the students are primarily female because the boys all volunteered to be officers. Er. What? Male teachers are gone, except Colbert. Tabitha didn't volunteer. Kirche did, but was refused because gender, though it's unclear whether they mean Germania or Tristain. Kirche views Colbert as a coward.

Ominous Foreshadowing involving a fire stone. [Future note: Wait what? Fire Stones get played up as this insanely big deal we only are now introducing several volumes down the line!]

The Valliere estate is so large there's a goddamn inn to wait at after half a day's travel! What, do they own a third of the country?

Eleanore is engaged. Doesn't like it. Louise is a moron who can't tell when her own sister is enraged, congratulates her. Oh wait she's furious because the engagement got canceled. 'kay. [Reader note: As far as I can gather, it got canceled because Eleanore is a bitch. Yes, Overlady’s presentation of her is more accurate to canon than you might think!]

Finally meet Cattleya. Also an older clone of Louise, only with identical hair color. Her carriage is filled with animals, including a tiger, a snake, a bear, and the more ordinary dogs and cats. Uh. How do they fit and why aren't they violent? In any event, Louise LOVES Cattleya's animals, while Eleanore is reluctantly tolerant.

Eleanore has a pocket watch. [Future note: You guessed it! Never crops up again. Not just hers, but in general we never hear about pocket watches]

Talking owl!! [Future note: Say it with me: this never crops up again]

Giant drawbridge golems!! [Complaint: what are the mechanics and limitations of golems, seriously, this is ridiculous]

Saito is allowed to be at dinner with Louise, but he stands behind her rather than getting a seat.

Sexism, Louise asserts, is "old-fashioned". Uuuuh. What changed, here in Halkeginia??

Eleanore knows about Louise being called "the Zero". Louise is unwilling to let her family know about her Void powers.

The Vallieres are one of the five biggest families of Tristain. [Future note: I still haven’t seen a reference to the other four]

Somethingsomething water magic doesn't work on Cattleya's illness because if you fix a part the degeneration moves elsewhere. "Various" medicines and magics are used to suppress her symptoms, instead. Cattleya can't go to the Academy or marry, as a result. She's supposedly never left the Valliere grounds. [Complaint: Water magic’s ability to fix or not fix things seems to have no even half-coherent system in mind beyond ‘whatever the author wants at this moment’]

The father is "retired". He is opposed to the war with Albion, on the basis that they should "siege" Albion instead, as they don't have a big enough numbers advantage in his opinion. He thinks the Tarbes victory has made Tristain overconfident. He disapproves of recruiting kids, too, claiming they're "useless" in war.

Then he places Louise under house arrest until the war is over. No leaving the castle. Louise ends up claiming her affinity is Fire, gets believed, told "same as your grandfather",  a "sinful" element drawn to war. [Future note: This elemental stereotyping thing goes away after, like, the next volume] Ordered to pick a husband -which is interesting, actually. [Reader note: By that I mean I figured that the story would go Full Historical Sexist Mode and have Louise’s father pick out a husband for him, or perhaps demand she accept the overtures of an existing set of people attempting to court her we’ve never heard of before. Instead Louise’s father seems to be operating on the idea that, essentially, she can pick any male noble and be reasonably expected to have the proposal excepted even though she’s a woman and the usual thing is for men to be pursuers]

Cattleya magically knowing things because she's "sharp". [Reader note: Seriously, she just has magical insight/awareness for no real reason. How on Earth Halkeginia did she even develop this level of social insight if she doesn’t interact with people?]

In Tristain, at least, nobles were originally just people who swore they would give their lives for the princess. Riches and land were rewards... and the magicalness isn't addressed. Or at least that's how the Vallieres started, implying Louise's loyalty is a tradition in her family stretching back eons. Fits with the playmate thing.

Cattleya supporting Louise's decision in a sneaky way. [Reader note: She converts the drawbridge’s chains into dirt, so the bridge stays down and Louise and Saito can escape. Mind, this just raises all kinds of questions, as either castles shouldn’t be a thing if they’re so easy for a single noble to trivialize major components of the defenses or the Valliere estate ought to be benefiting from that ‘hardening’ thing we heard about back in volume 1. But noooo, consistency is unacceptable]

Louise uses Henrietta as a guidepost for behavior. [Future note: This... could be set alongside future events to point to as signs of Louise experiencing major character development, but I suspect ‘this never crops up again’ syndrome]

Royal Army, National Army, Sky Navy. Respectively: Mercenaries under the Crown's direct command (through nobles...), farmers levied by landed nobles, and the ships, the last of which... uh... work, somehow.

Guiche's father is Marshal of the Royal Army, because he's retired from military service. (??) Guiche has three brothers.

The students get two months of training.

La Rochelle's sky tree is called Yggdrasil. Shock.

The Air Navy promotes by merit, not birth. [Question: How do they choose who to recruit, though? We never find out]

After Tarbes, Tristain recruited some of the Albionese officers for the Sky Navy. This bothers a lot of the Tristainian airpeople. So much so that there are people plotting for "enemy fire" to kill these guys during combat.

Agnes home of Angleterre/Angle Province is, unsurprisingly, Albion immigrants who integrated into Tristain over time, but always tried to be independent and stuff. Twenty years before canon, roughly, they "forced" the Tristain government to recognize their independence and built a temple to, presumably, Protestantism. This pissed off Romalia, who promptly pressured Triustain into butchering them.

Not-at-all-coincidentally, a month before putting Agnes’ home to the torch, a Romalian New Religion noblewoman washed up nearby. Killing this woman was the reason people were there. The torching was claimed to be about preventing the spread of a disease, though the "New Religion Hunt" it was part of didn't last long due to changes in Romalian leadership.

Some De Poiters guy is blocking the Musketeers from participating in the invasion of Albion because he thinks they'd steal his glory.

Agnes trying to find out who the man who headed the torching/carried her out is so she can kill him. Stonewalled by the page naming him being ripped out of a book about a "magical research group". [Future note: We never get an explanation for this page being missing, I don’t think]

Trolls are as tall as five people. (25 feet?) They live in the northlands of Albion, and are apparently willing to be hired by humans to fight humans, though they're prone to ignoring orders and they hate humans for no clearly given reason. They just like killing humans. And fighting. They're basically Warhammer Orks, really. They have their own language and wield spiked hammers. [Future note: In the not terribly distant future the plot is going to go right back to ignoring the existence of what it calls ‘demi-humans’. Ugh]

Menvil thinks burning flesh is the best smell there is. Finally get confirmation on the obvious point that he was involved in torching Angletierre. Also learning the Magical Research Group actually DID do research -in between being called to suppress dissent and the like. And said research was focused on things like "how much damage does an AOE spell actually do?" and "burning flesh what happen?" Menvil got his Zuko-scar when he tried to attack the leader because he looked up to the guy. Even Menvil isn't sure why he attacked the guy.

Wardes has no soul. Fouquet can feel horror. Gender stereotypes. [Reader note: I forget what this was about, but basically Wardes feels nothing when doing horrific things and Fouquet actually does feel bad. You know, other than about stealing]

Mazarini is ALSO insisting that Tristain could starve out Albion. What, is Albion seriously running at a food deficit it resolves via trade? [Reader note: I didn’t note down the original claim that starving out Albion is a realistic possibility, because it’s dumb. No, the floating island is not a castle. It is, to all appearances, a self-sufficient land that grows its own food. Starving them out makes no sense unless they believe trade embargoes are a possibility, and even that is questionable since Albion apparently flies all over Halkeginia and so could simply trade for food from sympathetic countries when over them. And now that I’m thinking about Dumb Albion Things: why do we never hear about Albion blocking out the sun, or dumping literal rivers of water on the lands below it, or anything of the sort? It’s supposed to be flying overhead!]

Henrietta hates herself blah blah blah. [Reader note: For kicking off a war. Never mind that Albion started it when they tried to kidnap her with a goddamn zombie version of her lover. Nooo, she feels guilty because it’s totally her fault]

Louise is of the belief that sex should only occur after marriage, and only after three months at that, for nobles such as herself.

De Poiters gets entrusted with commanding Louise's Void magic in the invasion.

The story seems to be implying Dragon Knights are all people whose familiar is the dragon they ride?...

Osmond feels a war that takes women and girls lives cannot possibly be just. Agnes' response is "what justice does a war that takes only men's lives have", followed by saying that death is equal. He's got no response for either of these. Colbert freely admits to being a coward/afraid of war when called such by Kirche.

Demo airships. Uh. This seems like an incredibly bad plan. [Reader note: As in unmanned airships filled with explosives and then launched in the direction of the enemy to explode on impact. This is an actual naval thing, historically, but naval combat isn’t three-dimensional]

Raven familiars as an early-warning system. Sensible. [Future note: Later we find out there’s a low-level wind spell that can be used to get a birds-eye view of nearby locations. So actually not sensible]

Colbert invents magic-seeking missiles -as in, heat-seeking rockets, but chasing magic. Aaaargh. [Future note: The plot makes infinitely more sense if you assume Colbert is a Worm-style Tinker. Or Girl Genius style Spark. He’s ridiculous]

Illluuuusion magic. [Reader note: I... don’t remember what this was in reference to. Something stupid, that’s all I recall]

Ice spear reflecting off the Liar's Mirror to kill the caster. Really?

So if Agnes recruited the girls, why are they at the Academy?... [Reader note: Not sure why I didn’t note it down, but earlier Agnes came along and interrupted Colbert’s class to conscript all the female nobles of the school as soldiers. The implication is that they all leave to go be soldiers at Albion. Then instead the Academy is attacked by Menvil and everybody is at the Academy with no explanation or justification provided. I don’t think this is a failure of the translation, I’m fairly sure this is just one more way in which the author was incapable of being consistent on any level]

Menvil is actually blind, but somehow uses his Fire affinity to have omnidirectional thermal vision. Because shut up. Oh and Colbert is the ex-captain of the Magical Research Group. Because of course all this him-being-a-coward shit is so it can turn out he's a badass who saves the women. Because sexism.

Naturally, fireballs can be used to block other fireballs. Physics. And Colbert uses a transmutation spell to suck all the air out via explosion, instantly suffocating Menvil. Because that's how physics and biology work, right? (Wrong)

A number of "magic arrows" is too serious an injury for magic healing to fix without ingredients. Because drama trumps consistency. Let's have multiple girls faint from trying to fix Colbert! He's too beloved to die! Ugh. [Reader note: We’re supposed to find Colbert a likable, heroic figure, much like Saito. Also much like Saito, he’s nonsensical and not actually likable. Unlike Saito, he’s not a wannabe-rapist... because he used to be a mass-murderer! Classy]

End volume 6.

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Surprisingly little horrible garbage of pointlessness! But a lot of dubious mechanics and inconsistent/probably inconsistent worldbuilding.

[In retrospect: No, there wasn’t much ‘harem shenanigans’, but this was still a horrible volume and all the Colbert-centric stuff isn’t even plausibly fanservice. It’s the author getting off on having his super-awesome regretful mass-murderer do a badass heroic thing and Prove Those Bitches Wrong for thinking he’s a cowardly wuss and have all of them feel sorry and bad for him now that he’s proven them wrong.

And the worst part?

He doesn’t stay dead]