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Esh absolutely told Joe in no uncertain terms not to go near Alden. He basically said last chapter that he would. And I think it's more likely that the wizards got an email from Esh (with less harsh terms than to Joe) than they had a meeting where they all agreed to ignore Alden.
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Apr 29, 2024 07:45
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Maybe. I didn't take Eshs comments last chapter as meaning he was going to talk to Joe about Alden. I kind of doubt he would talk about Joe without a good reason. My read was that this is more about "Joe's great shame," as Stuart put it. I think it puts Joe in a weird spot. Alden is a sweetheart who sees no reason not to still be buddies, but for Joe, the dynamics of their relationship is no longer nearly so clear cut as they were.
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Apr 29, 2024 11:36
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Yeah I reread last chapter and it's definitely less cut and dry than I thought it was.quote:“Bash-nor has a busy day tomorrow, which I have <<contrived>> to make busier for him.”
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Apr 29, 2024 12:25
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The Knights' favorite little Ryeh-b’t also being the focus of all the doom in his life over the past year walking up to him and saying "Hi!" seems reason enough to book it to me. Edit: 
Nitrousoxide fucked around with this message at 13:36 on Apr 29, 2024 |
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Apr 29, 2024 13:32
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gonadic io posted:Yeah I reread last chapter and it's definitely less cut and dry than I thought it was. I like the theory someone in Patreon had that the "someone" is actually Mother. Not because I find it likely, but because the thought of system interface of Joe or Bash-nor chiming in with "what are you planning to do with my Alden?" ought to result in some pretty great freak outs, like the one Joe executed. Or probably more dramatic.
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Apr 29, 2024 14:35
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Speaking of, Alden did a pretty good job holding it together when Mother suddenly answered his query to the system. That was certainly a poo poo bricks types of moment.
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Apr 29, 2024 15:12
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And she definitely meant for the double meaning with the uniform too. Mother's got a mean sense of humor.
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Apr 29, 2024 15:23
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Patrick Spens posted:And she definitely meant for the double meaning with the uniform too. Mother's got a mean sense of humor. "You're a mean system. I didn't even know systems could be mean." Yeah, she had fun with that one. Honestly I hope once Alden is feeling more recovered he at least asks what joining the knights would involve, just so he knows. And as Mother pointed out he's basically already got the downside without the benefits that come from it.
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Apr 29, 2024 16:40
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Downsides are also politicical. And some are unknown. They have had knights before from other races. What happened to those?
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Apr 29, 2024 19:25
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Alden's gonna try to slyly ask Joe about some technical aspects of magic and out himself isn't he?
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Apr 29, 2024 19:36
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I don't think Alden is about to be asking Joe anything any time soon tbh. However, one thing from the RR chapter is that the bolded text was added:quote:Did she feel me cast a spell? Which makes me think that Zeridee definitely is going to remember. It's pretty telling when she adds an extra paragraph to emphasise something. That zoo anecdote with Alden and 12 year old Boe was another key one.
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Apr 29, 2024 20:41
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I think probably the knights will have noticed spell casting from the area and assume it's zeridee so alden will be placed in the position of owning up or letting her take the fall. Telegraphed by them noticing his fist bump in earlier chapters.
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Apr 29, 2024 22:40
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Is “real” spellcasting measurably different than using a spell impression, since spell impressions are just spellcasting on autopilot? A trained wizard would probably notice a qualitative difference in execution if they were watching the caster directly, but I don’t think a system for detecting cast spells would detect anything that couldn’t be plausibly explained by any of the Avowed on the scene using spell impressions.
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Apr 29, 2024 23:22
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Mm, contentious soup today. yes a memo was sent to the other wizards, no Joe did not have a direct warning and in fact he would really recommend that Alden stop drawing attention to either of them. Also lol at Esh not being able to figure out what Alden's skill is when Joe did. gonadic io fucked around with this message at 12:19 on May 2, 2024 |
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May 2, 2024 12:13
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gonadic io posted:Also lol at Esh not being able to figure out what Alden's skill is when Joe did. Joe is really good at his job, is a fact we should not let his current predicament obscure for us. It's been recently reinforced, in fact, by his performance during the clean up operation. Plus, being a good wizard requires having a strong grip on the theory of magic in a way that I don't think being a good knight necessarily does? The whole point of Affixation being to allow you to skip that step. So I don't think it should be all that surprising. In other news, this was fun: quote:Irritation born of half a dozen less nameable feelings stirred inside him. “You know, I don’t think Worli Ro-den is allowed to run away from me.” What is the water cooler talk about the human ryeh-b't and his grudge against the disgraced former archmage I wonder.
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May 2, 2024 12:42
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I love the psychological realism of Joe's explanation of his central flaw. He says his problem is that he is too ambitious, or too greedy if you want to be more mean about it. This is kind of true, but it is not the core of his problem. It is just a way of thinking about it that lets him avoid more painful self examination. His real problem is that he is selfish. He does not consider the needs or wants of others as valuable compared to his own. Alden correctly identified this when he pointed out that even if Joe is right and it would be mutually beneficial for them to avoid associating with each other, this was a decision Joe made unilaterally and then attempted to enforce in a rude way. The best part is this is now posed to completely gently caress over Joe. When Alden was getting his contract tattoo, Joe said that if there was a disagreement between them about the contract, Joe as the mighty wizard would crush newbie Avowed Alden and enforce his will. But now a goddamn knight desperate to make Alden like him is about to step in and potentially erase the entire tattoo. (Though I think the triangle of secrecy will remain) This is really reminding me of when Aulia was tattooing with Lute and she said that in cases of disagreement, the stronger party wins. The tattoo artist was contemptuous of that stance, and I think Joe has made the same fundamental mistake as Alden. The powerful can do as they will, but that doesn't mean they're immune from long term consequences.
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May 2, 2024 14:27
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Both Joe and Esh are treating Alden as a child and making decisions for him.
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May 2, 2024 14:40
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“You know, I don’t think Worli Ro-den is allowed to run away from me.”
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May 2, 2024 15:11
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But ultimately, Joe gave Alden a genuine warning about attention from wizards, and a hint to get the tattoo removed off his chest. So despite his actions attempting to not bring attention to either of them, I'm still on team "Joe secretly likes Alden and isn't just transactionaly done with him forever".
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May 2, 2024 15:16
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gonadic io posted:Both Joe and Esh are treating Alden as a child and making decisions for him. Good point re:parallel. Also the flying thing will totally bring unwanted attention...
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May 2, 2024 15:19
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OddObserver posted:Good point re:parallel. Also the flying thing will totally bring unwanted attention... There's a good chance that ship has already sailed if his school is aware the General Esh-erdi has been running errands for Samuel Alden Thorn. His chance of a mildly normal time at school is going to be absolutely gone if he attends the school's announcement on a flying platform with him.
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May 2, 2024 15:39
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In the plus side, Lexi will be delightfully exasperated.
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May 2, 2024 15:59
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OddObserver posted:In the plus side, Lexi will be delightfully exasperated. I kinda want Maricel to see it. Remember that strenuous thing you did to help people to safety 2 days ago? I got a ring like that, only it doesn't get tired. Cool, huh?
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May 2, 2024 16:39
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gonadic io posted:Both Joe and Esh are treating Alden as a child and making decisions for him. This doesn't feel true to me at all. What decision has Esh unilaterally imposed on Alden? I'm not seeing it. I do think Joe likes Alden. He even calls Alden extremely likeable in this chapter. Liking someone is not the same as acting for their benefit though.
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May 2, 2024 17:47
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Alden's true superpower continues to be that all the aliens he meet instantly treat him like a best friend.
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May 2, 2024 17:56
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I'm also like 90% sure that Joe knows that Alden is a Knight-in-Training. Either Kibee told him, or he's able to differentiate between the different types of authority that somemone holds.
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May 2, 2024 18:04
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I'm pretty sure nothing about Alden's aura is outing him. If it did then surely the healer would know as well. Maybe Kibby told him, but if so then Alis knows since all her comms go through the knight.
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May 2, 2024 18:11
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The way that Sleyca brought forward the emphasis on the way Joe said attention makes me think he knows something.
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May 2, 2024 21:32
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berenzen posted:The way that Sleyca brought forward the emphasis on the way Joe said attention makes me think he knows something.
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May 2, 2024 22:12
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Chapter 153 has been released. drat, that nonagon flier sure is cool.
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May 6, 2024 16:48
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Maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part, but I feel like we are on the verge of Alden going "You and me aren't as different as you might think Esh-erdi" *authority pat*
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May 6, 2024 17:24
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Nitrousoxide posted:Maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part, but I feel like we are on the verge of Alden going "You and me aren't as different as you might think Esh-erdi" *authority pat* ..and then Esh-erdi falls into the ocean. I am still in the "Lind-otta recognizes his pat when they finally meet, and then they have to telepathically realize all the clues they were missing while trying not to visually freak out." camp.
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May 6, 2024 17:38
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It was pointed out in the discord that the tattoo session is going to be very interesting when it finally happens.
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May 6, 2024 17:39
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It's great any time the gremlin gets to shine. I wonder if it will be as annoying this time as it was to Joe.
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May 6, 2024 18:12
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Wittgen posted:It's great any time the gremlin gets to shine. I wonder if it will be as annoying this time as it was to Joe. Gremlin to Joe: "stop trying to screw over the kid, the deal is uneven!". Joe: argghhh! Gremlin to Esh-erdi: "You are being way too nice, the deal is uneven!". Esh-erdi: argghhh!
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May 6, 2024 18:27
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That was pretty strongly hinted this chapter tbh with the whole discussion about secrets already.
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May 6, 2024 19:17
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Nitrousoxide posted:Maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part, but I feel like we are on the verge of Alden going "You and me aren't as different as you might think Esh-erdi" *authority pat* I don't think Alden is going to say anything (at least not anytime soon). And he'll be 100% correct not to. Esh-erdi's whole relationship with Alden is based on a certain understand of "who and what Alden is." Alden has no idea how he would feel about the unprecedented event of "an Avowed effectively becoming a Knight." Maybe it would be fine, but it could also be disastrous. Even if Esh-erdi didn't respond negatively, there's a very good chance he'd insist on changes to Alden's life/circumstances. My best guess is that Stu-art'h will be the first "in-the-know" wizard/Knight/Artonan to either be told or otherwise find out. Stu-art'h is the only non-Kibby Artonan who genuinely cares about Alden (to an extent that I'm pretty confident he would respect Alden's wishes), and he also has a perspective that differs strongly from the rest of his society. Zeridee remembering Alden casting magic also might be plausible, though a little more narratively awkward (but could work if Zeridee begins to feature more heavily in the story somehow).
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May 6, 2024 19:23
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Special Circumstances Cookie License
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May 7, 2024 03:01
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I think Stuart or Kibby will be the first to know. We know Kibby is fascinated by knights and will probably mention she wants to be one to the Fourth. It's probably too soon but I could even see her getting the elder croaker story in the same chapter as Alden, just from a different source.
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May 7, 2024 06:18
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i require an esh-erdi/haoyu deadpan competition
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May 7, 2024 06:57
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