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BattleAxe First Read: Chapter Thirty: The Mother (Part I)
Chapter Twenty-Nine | Table of Contents | Chapter Thirty (Part II)
Content Warning: Animal sacrifice
SCSF: A good day, everyone, and welcome back to BattleAxe! Last time, we met Raum and we had a host of nonsense to get through.
Now for the reader post:
Wolfgoddess points out that Raum being described as having a “mobile mouth” is quite hard to understand.
PPP: 231
She further rightly notes that Faraday being the one to get put through the wringer like this comes across as petty, so…
Petty Ain’t the Word for You: 40
Chess points out that Faraday is asked to participate in a (religious) Avar ritual, when she followed the Axe and the Plough a short while ago. Yes, that is a problem.
Maria Monk Redux: 63
She further has another awesome fic, featuring Ceolmund!
Epistler also has trouble with Faraday’s skin especially being mentioned as white, so…
FYRP: 105
For myself, I note that Raum seems quite a bit more indignant at the former range of the Greater Avarinheim being ploughed than at that forest being destroyed, or indeed at the attempted genocide. It just makes him feel like a mouthpiece for Douglass.
FYRP: 110 (+5)
Well, let me begin with the next chapter, then!
Chapter Thirty: The Mother
I have nothing to complain about that, for once. So, as night sets in, Raum advises Faraday to take Shra and sleep some hours before “the ceremony at the Mother”. Faraday looks to Jack and Yr for guidance, and they tell her to “trust Raum in whatever he ask[s] her to do”. So Faraday cradles Shra in her arms and curls up in a blanket. The last thing she sees is Jack, Yr and Raum talking with each other.
I note that Shra has been very calm and frankly unreactive during the time she has been here. That is certainly not how she would react, and I see that Douglass does explicitly mention it… so is something supposed to be going on with her?
Raum wakes Faraday some hours later, saying it it time. Faraday goes to look around her. It is very cold and she shivers in the air. The cloud cover is gone for now, and she can see “countless thousands” of stars and the full moon just above the mountains. Faraday wakes Shra who, “uncomplaining”, puts her arms around Faraday’s neck as Faraday lifts her. She asks where Jack and Yr are. Raum nods toward the tree line, and Faraday can just see them sitting and watching beneath the nearest trees.
Raum says they will not “disturb [them]”, and he asks that Faraday stay silent unless he asks her to speak. He asks if she is ready, and Faraday nods. Raum tells her to come, and walks to the lake. Some “twenty paces” from the lake he stops and tells Faraday that they need to take their clothing off, as the Mother “demands that [they] meet her as naked as the day [they] were born”. Is there any reason for that, beyond the Avar being generic nature people?
Cardboard Worldbuilding: 60
Faraday goes to protest, but Raum glares her into submission, and she eventually “nod[s] stiffly” and undresses Shra. Then she puts Shra (who is “still placid”) on the ground and undresses herself. She immediately gets gooseflesh and shivers from the cold. “[F]eeling it [is] the right thing to do”, she unbinds her hair and shakes it out. She picks up Shra again (seriously, is this a child or a doll?) and looks away from “Raum’s nakedness”, grateful that her embarrassment will not show in the dark. I quite like this moment; it fits her character quite well and I like that she is allowed this (though naturally she is specifically allowed to be embarrassed).
She then suddenly thinks about what Merlion would say about this, “and for an instant her eyes [sting] with painful tears”, but she blinks them away, and follows Raum to the lake. So there we had another mention of Merlion. I like that Faraday has not entirely forgotten about her, but this is past ridiculously fast. Further, why should Faraday put her mind to other things? She does not care very much for this ritual, so why not stay behind for a bit and try to imagine what Merlion would say of this? Why not try to recall Merlion as best she can, because she does not want to forget?
Instead, she dismisses the memory, and it is written like she dismisses a bad memory. Is that what Merlion is, then? Is she a bad memory that Faraday is right to dismiss? I hope that is not what Douglass meant to write, but it is what she got.
Petty Ain’t the Word for You: 41
When they reach the lake’s edge, Raum again reminds Faraday to be silent, and he tells her to put Shra down, because she “will have to stand on her own for this”. Faraday does so, and Raum quickly picks something up “from a large flat rock at his feet”. Faraday realises he is holding a “large hare” in one hand and “a sharp bone knife” in another. Oh, I see where this is headed.
Raum looks at her again and Faraday bites her lip to keep from saying anything. Do we constantly need to have Faraday being told not to speak up? No, we do not.
Petty Ain’t the Word for You: 42
The hare is still alive, as indicated by its “flickering ears”, but it lies nearly motionless “in Raum’s arm”.
PPP: 232 (how hard is this?)
Raum very softly thanks the hare for their sacrifice “[they] are willing to make for [them]”, and promises they will “join with the Mother”. Hmm, I would like to know more about this practice. Do the Banes always use a hare, and if so, why? And how do they believe the sacrificial animal will join the Mother? I would love to know more!
Now Raum hefts the knife and makes “a long slit down into the hare’s chest cavity”. …I cannot exactly complain about this without being hypocritical, but it still viscerally disturbs me. Blood wells up and shines in the moonlight. Raum puts the knife back, then dips his fingers in the blood and bends down to Shra. He says the following:
“With this blood, freely given by friend hare, I bind you with the Mother. Will you promise to server her, to aid her, and never betray her?”
I simply like that we get to see how this ritual works, as I do not think we have seen anything like this so far. It is nice worldbuilding, though it is naturally a shame that we get so little. I am also curious what this “service to the Mother” entails… Is this the service that the Banes do for the Avarinheim? I presume they get their powers from the Mother, so it might be… I should probably wait for the answers. (Finally, I highly doubt that “friend hare” agreed to this, but alright.)
Shra “lisp[s]” that she swears it, and Faraday realises this is the first time she has heard Shra speak. So… there is something going on with Shra? That is the impression I get from the writing, at least, with Faraday explicitly noting that Shra has only spoken now. I cannot remember anything coming from this later, though, so I wonder if this is actually mean to amount to something, or that Douglass wrote this unintentionally.
Raum then wishes (he uses “may” here, and I do not know how to convert that to indirect speech) that Shra may always be allowed to reach the Sacred Grove. He runs his bloodied fingers over “her face and chest”, leaving “three parallel lines running down her body”. He says she is bound with this blood. So that is how one becomes bound to the Mother, then!
Raum rises and says the same he said to Shra, and asks her if she gives her service to the Mother. That will probably go quite a bit harder. Let me show it:
Faraday thought of her eighteen years of utter devotion to Artor and her complete trust in the Seneschal. She wondered what she was doing, how she could possibly have found herself in this situation? She opened her mouth to say the words, but for a moment nothing would come out. Gaping helplessly, she wondered if she should run, run as fast and as far as she could. Then, just as she was about to break from Raum’s stare, Faraday remembered how she had felt at the Star Gate, how she had thought then that Artor was totally insignificant compared to the deeper mysteries of the Forbidden. There was more to life, and more beautiful, than the Seneschal’s Way of the Plough.
So, this is the moment where Faraday definitely abandons her old religion in favour of service to the Mother. I would wish we had some more focus on this, and we certainly had space to see Faraday lose touch with her religion, but I guess Douglass just did not want to spend time on that.
PPP: 237 (+5) (this is important, after all)
I also see some errors in this. Faraday thought that Artor “paled into insignificance” compared to the Star Gate specifically, not the works of the Icarii and Avar in general. Further, I think that should be “and more beauty” instead of what we have.
PPP: 239
Still, it is not all bad. Faraday is uncomfortable with this, and I like that she wonders how she has ever come to be in such a situation. I also like that she wants to run away; after all, she is asked to swear service to a power of the “Forbidden”, so I would expect her to be afraid here! Her reasons for accepting also fit; however silly it is that she thinks Artor insignificant compared to the Star Gate, I can see that she would use her curiosity to convince herself to agree to this service.
Overall, this bit is lacklustre, but it does have some nuance, as Faraday is allowed to have doubts about her service to the Mother without being painted as bad. So it seems that Douglass could write a more nuanced version of this story, but she just chose not to. I am a bit exasperated with her for this.
Well, Faraday then swears she will do what Raum asked. I do not have a problem with this per se, but it clearly is notable that the end result for Faraday is that she adopts an Avar religious practice. So…
Maria Monk Redux: 68 (+5)
Well, Raum puts his fingers in the blood again (yuck), and trails them across her face, so that his middle finger traces a line “down her nose and mouth to the point of her chin” and his index and ring fingers make trails “down either cheek”. The blood is noted to be “warm” and “clotted”, which… how long has Faraday stood here considering, then??
PPP: 234
Raum says the same he said to Shra, that she is bound with this blood and such. He then runs his fingers down her chest, leaving a trail “down her sternum”, and the other two “down her breasts to her nipples”. Once again, I highly doubt that Raum could spread his fingers enough to do so. With his thumb and little finger, it would be probable, but not like this.
It’s Like We’re Smart But We’re Not: 32
Faraday closes her eyes, repulsed by the feeling of the blood on her breasts, and remembers how the blood spattered on her breasts in the vision. I am reminded of the vision too, though for somewhat different reasons… When she opens her eyes again, Raum is still looking at her, but he now looks “sympathetic”, and Faraday knows he understands what “feelings the blood [has] stirred in her”. That apparently means she feels “empowered” as the Mother enriches her with “strength and courage and understanding”, and her “doubts and fears” fade. I think that is positive? It still feels a little weird to see her be influenced like this.
Raum asks Faraday if she will honour him with “the Mother’s marks”, and he holds the hare out. Faraday now feels “no longer afraid or even cold”. Um, I do get the feeling some mind-control is going on here.
Give Me a Piece of Your Mind: 14
Faraday then dips her fingers into “the hare’s chest cavity”, and realises “with a start” that its heart is still beating. Well, that is quite horrible, and I dearly hope “friend hare” lost consciousness soon. Faraday has no reaction to that, and she raises “her dripping fingers” and marks Raum “as he had her”, while presumably dislocating her fingers, too.
It’s Like We’re Smart But We’re Not: 33
She smiles at him and wishes (?) that the blood “[m]ay renew [his] bonds with the Mother [] and [that his] feet hold firm to the paths of the Sacred Grove”. Good on Faraday for coming up with a version of this for a Bane, I guess? Raum smiles at her, “pleased that she [has] bonded so well”. So… he has decided that it would be better to have Faraday use her talents for the Avar? I guess Jack and Yr told him she was Tree Friend during the meantime, though it would be nice to have confirmation of that (and nicer if they said so immediately).
Then he reaches down to the hare and “[tears] its living heart out with an abrupt twist of his hand”. (winces) That was brutal, though I suppose the hare can at least die now… He then throws the “still quivering heart” into the Mother, and wishes that she will “wake for [them] this night” with “this heart’s blood”. (So… how would one wake Cauldron Lake, for example?) As soon as the heart hits the surface, the whole lake bursts into “a luminous deep emerald glow”. Faraday finds the sight so beautiful that she gasps in wonder.
Raum turns back, “tossing aside the carcass of the hare”, and tells her to behold the Mother. Faraday cannot look away from the scene before her. The lake lights up the whole mountain, and even the stars reflect some of the light, she says, which I think she is just imagining. “Power” seems to come from the lake and call to Faraday, and finally she looks at Raum in “mute appeal”. Raum says it is indeed time to “present her to the Mother”. He picks up Shra and holds out a hand to Faraday. He tells her to take it and walk with him and Shra “through the Mother and into the Sacred Grove”, and to be “welcomed”. So we will be going into the Sacred Grove for real now! That is very nice!
Faraday then grasps his hand, and they begin to walk into the water. And then we pick up with Timozel again. He feels himself being pulled into the nightmare again, and tries as hard as he can to resist it, but it is useless. He forces his eyes open, and sees Gorgrael standing before him, “a full head taller then [him], and five times his weight in muscle”. Power “radiate[s]” from his silver eyes (then he is clearly not evil! He has “power”, after all!) and he again stretches out a hand “in entreaty”. Timozel wonders in parentheses if it is a claw, and I can hardly tell without knowing more.
Gorgrael asks again if Timozel wants to be his friend. With “what he [thinks will] be his dying breath”, Timozel summons his remaining courage and screams that he would rather burn forever in the fire pits of the AfterLife than be Gorgrael’s friend. Gorgrael “bellow[s] with rage” and reaches for Timozel. That was the wrong answer, it seems.
We cut back to Faraday. As she steps into the lake, she does not feel wetness, only power. That is just as with Cauldron Lake, then. It “throb[s] all around her”, and she wonders what it will be like to be completely submerged. Raum holds her hand tighter, and Faraday “smile[s] at him reassuringly”. Shra reaches her arms into the lake, “laughing with joy”. Good to see that this small child is not in any way disturbed by them walking into a lake like this.
They walk further into it, and the glow rises until it has reached their chests. Raum keeps Shra’s head above it. He then tells them to come and dips beneath the surface, drawing Shra and Faraday with him. Faraday does not “feel a moment’s tension or worry” as she goes under. She can breathe perfectly fine and, as the lake bed drops out under her, she can walk “completely suspended” in the light “without any support”. Oh, that is certainly nice! She looks around, amazed, and sees that Raum, Shra, and herself are surrounded by the light and everything outside of the lake has disappeared. I truly like that we get to see how all of this goes!
Raum looks at her, which I guess is to spur her on, and we get a mention of the blood on his body. Faraday goes ahead again and they walk deeper into the light. Gradually, Faraday notes the light change: it becomes darker in some places and lighter in others. She again feels that she is walking on solid ground, and when she looks down, she sees she is walking through “soft, ankle-high grass”. Just now, tall trees appear around her, and the emerald light vanishes, leaving them to “walk[] down a narrow path through a deep forest”. Overhead, the stars spin in a “dazzling display” of power greater than anyone can hope to hold.
So they have clearly reached the Sacred Grove by now! And… I think I will cut here, as I have promised myself. Until next time, then!
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I'm starting to wonder if Shra is being mind-controlled or drugged. That's not how little kids work.
Hang on, Faraday didn't agree to this! No one told her that she was going to have to make this kind of decision, and we're supposed to be okay with her getting surprised like this when the Sentinels are standing right there and will clearly be upset and disappointed if she says no?
Seriously, suppose she did run. Do you really think Jack and Yr would let her get away with it? That they wouldn't just drag her back and brainwash her into doing it anyways?
Forced conversion is not okay!
And that's without the additional ickiness of how shame is one of the few things reliably scarier then death and women tend to get taught that making a scene is shameful. All in all, this should be played for horror.
(And that's before you get into Faraday literally swearing an oath she does not understand. Seriously, she has no idea what she's swearing to do, so for all she knows she's just promised to set fire to the fields of innocent farmers. This should never be presented positively!)
Faraday felt very glad she had insisted upon not participating in the ritual as Raum and Shra stripped. Why, her mother would be horrified if she heard Faraday had done such a thing!
... Would have been horrified. Tears pricked her eyes and blurred her vision, and something told her Jack and Yr would not like them.
She turned slightly to blink them away, and when she looked back Raum had a hare in his arms. Her stomach turned when he cut into the hare, but she firmly told herself that it was really no worse then hunting.
He drew lines of blood down Shra's body, and then asked her to swear an oath.
Faraday's blood froze. Not for Shra's sake, she was clearly something like an oblate, but for her own. Had she agreed to undertake this rite, she too would have been asked to join Raum's order.
And a few days ago, she might have said yes.
She almost missed Raum tearing something out of the hare's chest and throwing it into the lake. She could not miss the result. The lake glowed a startling emerald green, one that reflected off the trees and the mountain and the thin clouds.
Raum picked Shra up, walked into the lake with her, and then dove under the surface. The sight almost startled her to movement, but she told herself quite firmly that she had no way of successfully intervening and anyways that would just give Jack and Yr what they wanted.
A hand shoved her shoulder, forcing her to grab onto the tree for balance. "Go, quickly!" Jack said. "While it's still open!"
Faraday gasped, truly frightened. "I said no!"
"The prophecy requires it," Yr told her.
"Pretty lady, you must," implored Jack.
Faraday murmured a quick prayer to the martyr St. Karcuna for strength and courage and braced herself against the tree's trunk. "No," she said, hoping she sounded as confident as she wanted to be. "I'm not doing it, and you can't make me."
"Do you want the whole world to freeze?" Yr hissed spitefully.
If you answer, she will win.
Faraday said nothing. She saw it now - say no and they would guilt her into going, say yes and they would still guilt her into going. But stalling could only work so long.
The way is closing. Soon it will not permit entry.
But how soon was soon?
"Well?" Yr snapped. "Aren't you going to answer me?"
"Would it matter if I did?" Faraday asked.
Something ugly twisted in Yr's face, a glimpse of something kept carefully hidden. "Of course it matters girl," she said.
She lies.
"Not here," Faraday said, "and not now. Not for you."
"You have to go, pretty lady," Jack pleaded. He reached out -
Close your eyes.
- and even through her closed lids Faraday could see the bright flash. Jack cried out in pain.
"This is Ceolmund's work," Yr said.
"Can't be," Jack said. "It's the wrong colour."
"There's no one left who could," Yr snarled. "Why did he follow us?"
The way is shut.
"Nevermind that," Jack said. "We missed our window."
Faraday opened her eyes to see that the light coming from the lake had shifted to a far less intense shimmer. Will Shra be alright?
She will be permitted exit.
She rested her fingers over her pendant. Ceolmund had made it, was it responsible for whatever had pained Jack?
A memory of a memory of a memory floated up through the tree she was braced against, of a branch cut from a faraway tree around whom gentle hands had woven wards against pests until they had sunk into the heartwood. It had rooted well in the forest, and those roots had knitted the ward throughout the glade, carrying with it an echo of the power which had crafted her pendant.
Faraday quietly giggled and hoped neither of her companions heard her, as there was no polite way to explain the tree had classified them as very large pests.
no subject
SCSF: I suppose I did not say anything about it because of just how pervasive Faraday getting treated like this is. I have already included it in the next part, though!
Having thought this over... I also think Faraday might accept so readily because Yr promised her it would bring "only joy", something that she needs quite a bit now.
Again, quite well done for the fic! I presume she get the advice via the pendant? I did quite like the closing line, too!
no subject
I was imagining Faraday getting advice from the tree, which sided with her because of her pendant, but the pendant itself making it easier for her to understand actually makes sense since it'd filter out anything that might overwhelm her. (Ceolmund crafted it with a broad definition of 'enchantment'.)
(That said, my primary idea for that scene was purely that the 'Tree Friend' should, well, befriend trees! Seriously, what's the point of establishing that she's unusually talented at tree-speaking if it's barely plot-relevant?)
no subject
SCSF: Oh, you certainly succeeded at that! I especially liked the tree sharing a memory. ...For something else, I think your characterisation of Yr is especially on point, as I do remember her being like this later on.
no subject
I'm not surprised that Yr canonically starts behaving like that, since I was extrapolating from her earlier behaviour, and in particular the way she talks about the Acharite court and Timozel. She's got a nasty streak of spiteful distain in her, and I figured these circumstances would bring it to the surface. (Honestly all the Sentinels so far have a streak of distain in their character, the others are just more patronizing then spiteful about it.)
no subject
I think it's an early example of babies being treated like props when they aren't just cute little dolls. It gets especially egregious with Caelum the Sue Baby later on. He doesn't wake his parents up every three hours every single night of the week. He doesn't even cry at ALL. Or need changing, or do any of the other messy stressful things babies his age do. All he does is look adorable and dote over his parents.
Did I mention the author had no children? Because boy does it show.
And again. She does this later on with Azhure as well, ie instantly loves and trusts her. My own niece wouldn't behave this way toward me, for the simple reason that she's very young and is only likely to remember me from maybe two encounters. She hasn't figured out who I am yet and therefore doesn't trust me.
It's because Douglass had a gratuitous nudity fetish. It's all through the trilogy and especially when children are involved. Even as an infant who isn't toilet trained, Caelum is naked all the time.
Doll. Then she starts talking and becomes a recording device spewing Sue apologetics on legs. In fact now I think about it she and Raum are the only two Avar characters who are ever important other than Basarbe, and ALL THEY DO AFTER THIS is be Sue apologists/praisers. While Basarbe refuses to join the fan club and is therefore painted as Bad and punished accordingly. So yeah. That's all the Avar ever do in this trilogy, other than giving Axis... a stick. There are so many Unfortunate Implications here.
Forever, apparently. She never thinks about Merlion again.
Indeed, and it's pretty obvious that it's because Douglass didn't care about Merlion or consider her a character in her own right.
On the word of a guy she literally just met, no less. Why does she trust him this much? He nearly got her killed!
Because everything the author wants us to like has to be beautiful. It doesn't help that we know nothing about how Artor worshipping actually works on a day to day basis, and we never learn anything of substance about the Mother - certainly not enough to show us she's a better alternative. And we learn even less about the Star Gods, who ultimately turn out to be completely fucking useless selfish assholes who don't do anything.
Goddamn, how cruel and dismissive is this?
I actually kind of like the Sacred Grove.
Gorge is never described as being this ripped ever again. In fact he's described as a comically clumsy idiot who therefore looked skinny in my mind.
Well that was unprovoked.
Note that Raum isn't even the kid's father. A normal kid this age would be crying for her parents, constantly.
no subject
I think it's an early example of babies being treated like props when they aren't just cute little dolls. It gets especially egregious with Caelum the Sue Baby later on. He doesn't wake his parents up every three hours every single night of the week. He doesn't even cry at ALL. Or need changing, or do any of the other messy stressful things babies his age do. All he does is look adorable and dote over his parents.
SCSF: Oh yes, I remember the Icarii children being mini-adults... That will be great.
Doll. Then she starts talking and becomes a recording device spewing Sue apologetics on legs. In fact now I think about it she and Raum are the only two Avar characters who are ever important other than Basarbe, and ALL THEY DO AFTER THIS is be Sue apologists/praisers. While Basarbe refuses to join the fan club and is therefore painted as Bad and punished accordingly. So yeah. That's all the Avar ever do in this trilogy, other than giving Axis... a stick. There are so many Unfortunate Implications here.
There certainly are... I can only think of Mirbolt as another relatively important Avar character, so that is not exactly encouraging. (I also hate that they are not even there after Tencendor blows up. In forty years, has not a single Avar left Tencendor, then?)
Forever, apparently. She never thinks about Merlion again.
To be fair, I am quite certain Faraday does think about her later, for example in Pilgrim.
On the word of a guy she literally just met, no less. Why does she trust him this much? He nearly got her killed!
If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that she wants the "joy" that she was promised if she were Tree Friend so badly that she is willing to trust him.
Because everything the author wants us to like has to be beautiful. It doesn't help that we know nothing about how Artor worshipping actually works on a day to day basis, and we never learn anything of substance about the Mother - certainly not enough to show us she's a better alternative. And we learn even less about the Star Gods, who ultimately turn out to be completely fucking useless selfish assholes who don't do anything.
It certainly comes across as quite superficial, like she just does not like the aesthetic of the Way of the Plough.
Goddamn, how cruel and dismissive is this?
Especially after he said that the hare "honoured" them... It certainly is dismissive.
I actually kind of like the Sacred Grove.
Oh, me too!
Well that was unprovoked.
I get why Timozel would want to do so... but it certainly is a bit rash.
no subject
It reminds of those weird medieval depictions of Baby Jesus looking like a tiny adult because he was born perfect and therefore didn't change his appearance as he grew up or some such weird justification.
I have no memory of Mirbolt at all except that she becomes a tree later. And I guess the author just lost the little interest she had in the Avar after book three.
I'm only counting this trilogy.
Because she's kind of a gullible idiot that way. Too bad she doesn't stop to think "wait a minute" when doing what the Sentinels tell her ends up landing her in an unhappy marriage in a miserable shithole of a castle. Then trudging around the countryside shredding her hands by planting thousands of trees WITHOUT A SHOVEL, while pregnant. And then getting ripped in half by Gorge. Where's the "joy" and happiness they promised in any of that? Faraday's the only character who actually SUFFERS in this crap.
Whatever the hell that is.
It's incredibly callous. What, when one of your friends dies you just dump his carcass in the bushes and leave it to rot? You're not going to honour the hare's sacrifice by burying or even eating the remains?
Plus we're getting the old "if he looks scary/ugly he must be evil!" nonsense again.
Also I've just noticed that Douglass really seems to dislike big muscular dudes. Borneheld is one, Gorge just got described as stacked, and in the second trilogy we get Qeteb or whatever his name is who's also build like the Hulk. Meanwhile Axis and other "good" male characters are lean. Like come on, mix it up a bit.
no subject
I wonder if Jackass wasn't mind-controlling her again. What if he inserted that thought into her mind to help her cheat on the test, and break her fear of the forest? We've already seen that he's not above mind-control for the smallest of reasons, and we both agreed that him saying they would peacefully leave if she failed the test was absolute bullshit. I think it would be perfectly in-character for him to cheat and make sure she passed the test.
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Yeah, given that it was revealed that Raum took part in his own version of attempted genocide of his own kind, I'm not surprised that he would blow off someone else trying to do it. When Douglass misses the important points, she misses them hard. And this is her own writing. How do you miss the point of what you came up with?!
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Yes, Faraday, trust the guy who was only too happy to kill you just a few minutes ago. I'm sure he's perfectly harmless.
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I want to say that she might be too young to understand that there's something serious going on, and if she's not afraid of strangers, that would explain why she's so chill with Faraday cuddling her, but...she's a toddler. Toddlers are little demons in human form. They get into everything, are masters at chaos, and can vanish with enough skill to put Houdini to shame, even when you're keeping an eye on them. She should have some other reaction than just...standing there. Have we fallen so low as mind-controlling young children now? It wouldn't surprise me...
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Minor nitpick, but why not just say 'countless stars'? 'Countless thousands' just sounds really weird.
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Because Douglass loves writing scenes that make us all incredibly uncomfortable, while being completely oblivious to it herself. I also wonder if she might have a nudity fetish, given how often it shows up, and often for the most bizarre of reasons.
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How many times is the good, submissive female going to be glared into complying with the big, scary male? Where is my cactus collection? I'm feeling the need to whack someone whose name starts with 'R' and ends with 'aum'.
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Given how quickly she turns away from it, all I can figure is that Merlion would put a spin on it that somehow blames Faraday for being naked around men who aren't her husband, and shame her for this, even though she had no choice in the matter. I could be wrong, but that just seems like something that Douglass would do, given how much she loves to abuse Faraday.
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That's all fine and good, but I really don't think 'opening your mind to the idea that life is bigger than what you thought' and 'being forced to participate in a naked blood ritual that you know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about' are on the same level. Maybe it's just me.
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Oh, great. Can he get into her mind, too? And I highly doubt that he's feeling sympathetic, after how much of an asshole he was being not that long ago. The least he could do is apologize for his behavior.
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EXACTLY! I'm starting to think that we should start just assuming that every human is under some form of mind control at any given moment. It would explain why their actions often don't make sense.
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...eep. I know this is fiction and all, and that it's not a real animal, but this still makes me very uncomfortable. I absolutely loathe animal violence in all forms. I could understand it a little more if the rabbit was actually sacrificed, in a way that was quick and painless, but the fact that it's still alive after being partially gutted just... No. Abso-fucking-lutely not. 'Friend rabbit' there agreed to being sacrificed, not to being eviscerated while it was still breathing.
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FUCKING HELL, DOUGLASS!
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So much for being grateful that it agreed to be a sacrifice and honoring its selflessness. I guess now that it's dead, your respect for it is completely gone. You could at least gently put it down out of the way.
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I know that muscle is heavier and denser than fat, but how thick is Gorgonzola for him to be five times as muscular? I feel like he could put a bodybuilder to shame, looking like that.
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You go, boy! Even if it's a dream, it seems real, and even though you believe that you're about to die, you still have the courage to tell him to take a hike.
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I don't like how Faraday doesn't react at all to this. Even if you're told that it's safe, your self-preservation instincts are still going to freak the fuck out, because breathing water = BAD, and you'll probably end up holding your breath whether you want to or not, at least for a few seconds. The human body just doesn't work this way!
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SCSF: I would certainly not be surprised if that turned out to be the case... though I am not willing to say it was without knowing more.
When Douglass misses the important points, she misses them hard. And this is her own writing. How do you miss the point of what you came up with?!
I think she simply did not consider any interpretations beyond what she thought was there.
Yes, Faraday, trust the guy who was only too happy to kill you just a few minutes ago. I'm sure he's perfectly harmless.
Yes, that is about what is going on. They really should have told her this after they spoke to Raum.
I want to say that she might be too young to understand that there's something serious going on, and if she's not afraid of strangers, that would explain why she's so chill with Faraday cuddling her, but...she's a toddler. Toddlers are little demons in human form. They get into everything, are masters at chaos, and can vanish with enough skill to put Houdini to shame, even when you're keeping an eye on them. She should have some other reaction than just...standing there. Have we fallen so low as mind-controlling young children now? It wouldn't surprise me...
I frankly have no idea what is going on with Shra... It might be mind-control, but it might as well be something entirely different.
Minor nitpick, but why not just say 'countless stars'? 'Countless thousands' just sounds really weird.
A somewhat bigger nitpick: having just looked it up, there are only a few thousand stars bright enough to be seen at night, and since they are in a valley, it would be less. The number of thousands would be quite countable indeed.
Because Douglass loves writing scenes that make us all incredibly uncomfortable, while being completely oblivious to it herself. I also wonder if she might have a nudity fetish, given how often it shows up, and often for the most bizarre of reasons.
That might be so...
Given how quickly she turns away from it, all I can figure is that Merlion would put a spin on it that somehow blames Faraday for being naked around men who aren't her husband, and shame her for this, even though she had no choice in the matter. I could be wrong, but that just seems like something that Douglass would do, given how much she loves to abuse Faraday.
If I remember correctly, in Wayfarer Redemption, Faraday recalls Merlion as being prudish, so I think you are quite right.
That's all fine and good, but I really don't think 'opening your mind to the idea that life is bigger than what you thought' and 'being forced to participate in a naked blood ritual that you know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about' are on the same level. Maybe it's just me.
You are quite right!
Oh, great. Can he get into her mind, too? And I highly doubt that he's feeling sympathetic, after how much of an asshole he was being not that long ago. The least he could do is apologize for his behavior.
I suppose he is feeling the same thing? And yes, he could certainly extend an apology.
EXACTLY! I'm starting to think that we should start just assuming that every human is under some form of mind control at any given moment. It would explain why their actions often don't make sense.
Well, quite soon everyone in Achar will be under mind-control because of the Prophecy, so...
...eep. I know this is fiction and all, and that it's not a real animal, but this still makes me very uncomfortable. I absolutely loathe animal violence in all forms. I could understand it a little more if the rabbit was actually sacrificed, in a way that was quick and painless, but the fact that it's still alive after being partially gutted just... No. Abso-fucking-lutely not. 'Friend rabbit' there agreed to being sacrificed, not to being eviscerated while it was still breathing.
(Well, I have done what I planned to do, and put up a little warning for this, which seems quite warranted.)
Yes, I do quite agree! It would have been just as easy to... stab the hare through their heart, collect the blood that way and then get the heart out. This is just edgy.
FUCKING HELL, DOUGLASS!
That is about what I thought. It certainly does not help that she had two major characters suffer something quite like this later on.
So much for being grateful that it agreed to be a sacrifice and honoring its selflessness. I guess now that it's dead, your respect for it is completely gone. You could at least gently put it down out of the way.
(nods) Certainly!
I know that muscle is heavier and denser than fat, but how thick is Gorgonzola for him to be five times as muscular? I feel like he could put a bodybuilder to shame, looking like that.
Yes, I think he could. I can easily imagine him being give times Timozel's strength in muscle, but this is just ridiculous.
I don't like how Faraday doesn't react at all to this. Even if you're told that it's safe, your self-preservation instincts are still going to freak the fuck out, because breathing water = BAD, and you'll probably end up holding your breath whether you want to or not, at least for a few seconds. The human body just doesn't work this way!
I would expect her to test it first when she is inside, at least.
(Oh, for the next part, I think I should mention that we will be seeing more of the deer people.)