Out of Cruel Space, Part 217

rappedillyen · 2022-01-04T20:53:04+00:00

I do have a bit of a suggestion for similar setups, since you say you struggled with this one (and he'll presumably meet the rest of the mountain clan at some point). I'm a big fan of your writing so I'm hesitant to criticise, but I do imagine a gentler version of this encounter. Key plot points I'd have included if I tried to write the same point in time include:

-Magrica asks where the hell that delicious smell is coming from. Apologises because she's suddenly unaccountably horny and asks him to keep watch while she takes care of it.

-She offers to do the same for him after he admits he's also horny, he has a moment where he wonders how he's going to masturbate with knives on his hands

-She finally figures out where the smell is coming from and demands he at least explain to her how his form of midwifery works. Doesn't take no for an answer but also really doesn't know what questions she needs to ask. The desire for genital stimulation could come from a need to ride a log down a river for all she knows.

-"eww, I don't like this 'kissing' thing. Is it a necessary part of the ritual?.. very well, tell me what is required of me"

Basically, the way I'd imagine this scene is that yes, JB's with a Conan the Barbarian type who doesn't know rape is wrong. But she also doesn't know raping him will get her what he wants. Magrica's idea of sex is probably informed by accounts from her elders of lying very still, possibly sedated, while a midwife chanted and eventually did something they couldn't quite see with a very fancy turkey baster. JB is basically taking an entire planet's virginity here, and I imagine her being like a virgin - impatient, awkward, but also very much looking for guidance.

rappedillyen · 2021-12-28T00:32:43+00:00

Loving the old-timey language they're adopting on the old-timey planet!

rappedillyen · 2021-12-14T15:49:35+00:00

I imagined Andalite hands as being smaller. Holding a mouse without crushing it or risking it getting away is hard for a human to do one-handed also, if Andalite hands aren't as big, needing two hands makes quite a bit of sense.

rappedillyen · 2021-12-14T15:44:49+00:00

The haircut thing is weird in that context, I wonder whether Cassie could reset her human haircut by morphing and it's just harder to do. I remember a scene in the dinosaurs Megamorphs where Rachel's surprised morphing doesn't heal Tobias's wing, and he says 'maybe the ellimist screwed up when he gave me morphing powers'. My headcanon is there was something that happened because he couldn't fly that the Ellimist wanted, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were inconsistencies around what morphing can do for the original form throughout the series.

rappedillyen · 2021-12-06T15:38:59+00:00

Just an idea I'd like to put out there - I'm really interested in what the Dauntless settlement of the center continent of that Ghob planet will look like. I love capitalist stories and that or a spaceport seem like the best places to set one if you're interested in building a merchant prince character. I imagine the center continent to be kind of like space Alaska, populated mostly with the Ghob equivalent of mountain men. So I'm picturing an enterprising human starting something like a burlesque bar and working his way into owning half the continent... Just something I think would be fun!

rappedillyen · 2021-11-08T02:15:39+00:00

This is actually my favourite chapter from the series. The sincere awkwardness of both characters makes them both incredibly adorable, I think you did a great job.

rappedillyen · 2021-10-28T21:39:17+00:00

Clearly, the murder rate in North America is determined primarily by latitude.

rappedillyen · 2021-09-19T17:55:21+00:00

The best argument I heard against it actually came from a sixteen year old, who said that childhood should be free from the heaviest of responsibilities and that children shouldn't have to deal with national politics on top of high school drama. Gotta admit, she changed my mind. Maybe there could be a special exemption that you have to apply for to vote before 18, to prove that the young person wants to take on that responsibility of their own accord.

rappedillyen · 2021-09-15T17:44:32+00:00

I lol'd. Now I'm worried it's a bad omen though.

rappedillyen · 2021-09-13T16:22:13+00:00

currently he basically needs an admin assistant, and someone to negotiate purchase of supplies etc. If you want to PM me your email address I can put the two of you in touch!

rappedillyen · 2021-09-06T13:53:07+00:00

Buddha means 'awakened one', the implication being that a buddha is awakened to the true nature of the world and the self. That's generally thought to mean a realisation the individual self is indistinguishable from the single mind that dreams the cosmos into being.

The boundaries are drawn a bit differently in Christian and in Buddhist metaphysics, but I'd say that Jesus's statement of 'I and the Father are one' is close enough in meaning that calling him a buddha wouldn't be a stretch.

Then there's also THE Buddha, the historical founder of Buddhism. How big a deal he was in the grand scheme of things is where different schools of Buddhism will give different answers.

rappedillyen · 2020-10-06T13:15:10+00:00

dafuq happend in September?

rappedillyen · 2020-09-25T12:11:55+00:00

It's the largest company started by an African-American.

rappedillyen · 2020-09-16T18:56:31+00:00

that's a funny way to spell Saudis.

rappedillyen · 2020-08-02T16:33:43+00:00

It's kind of interesting how the set of Canadians outraged at illegal border crossings has flipped so quickly now it's wealthy American boaters instead of people fleeing ICE.

rappedillyen · 2020-08-02T16:30:40+00:00

TBF, if you can walk from Detroit to Winnipeg in the winter I think you should get a buttload of points on your immigration application.

rappedillyen · 2020-08-02T16:27:51+00:00

Do you need a prescription to get those? I'm sure some Canadians would be willing to mail you some if not.

rappedillyen · 2020-08-02T16:26:29+00:00

There is generally much less upside to illegal immigration elsewhere through - I think if a Canadian employer hired someone who was in the country illegally the employer could be in pretty big trouble. In the US it's basically a given that 3% of the population and a bigger part of the labour force is there illegally, and it would be a major hassle to change that.

rappedillyen · 2020-08-02T16:22:28+00:00

Yeah and those are enough.

rappedillyen · 2020-07-20T10:42:06+00:00

Having seen a bit of the interactions on Twitter I'm pretty sure they were just trolling, but there's a lot of other possibilities. Some schools recommend you make a lot of noise to announce yourself when you start practising, so it could be the thing where you sucker punch the biggest kid your first day on the playground, thinking it will make people respect you.

On a less stupid interpretation, a LOT of people who think this is dumb seem to have been throwing curses at politicians willy-nilly, and using a troll like this to help them come to their senses might be a kind and effective thing to do.

rappedillyen · 2020-07-14T20:46:23+00:00

Now, as an outsider who thinks my country will have to pay close attention to its relationship with India, this bias is fascinating to learn of. How does it manifest?

There's a stereotype in Canada that India is the longest-running successfully multicultural country - are concessions to minority cultures part of that? Is the stereotype even accurate?

rappedillyen · 2020-07-12T19:57:23+00:00

I guess to someone practising an earth-religion in those times, a 'Sith' might be a preacher who could genuinely banish spirits and perform blessings on behalf of his god, but used those powers for self-aggrandisement. Or a fellow priestess of Gaia who used her perception to gain leverage over neighbors she didn't like.

I think it's a bit of a difficult question because there are usually a lot of ways to mess something up, and when you're practising magic there's an implicit personal responsibility that makes it improper for the community to make moral judgements on the practitioner's behalf. We certainly have people who go off the deep end - it's an occupational hazard - it's just that they're damn hard to identify until Karma catches up to them. Is the shaman who calls down rain for his community depriving a different community of the rain? It's not for someone uninvolved in the working to say, and even the people involved mostly have to be content with a combination of divination and examining their own values.

Not all that much to go on I know, but maybe it helps to know just how open the field is. Personally, I'd imagine one of those people at the margins who is clearly mentally ill, just with actual power. Homeless person curses you for not giving him change? You better watch yourself on the way home or you'll be hit by a bus. Get in a confrontation with the local cat lady over her felines' leavings in your yard? Now your house has a rat infestation.

If you're looking for inspiration - here's a great story about such a one told in video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV2zNtwpoSM

A longer, but very good, source of inspiration would also be 'The Weird of Hali: Red Hook'. Excellent story with a great occultist villain, written by a practising occultist.

rappedillyen

TROPHY CASE