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I find it interesting how close an touchy feely Spiral and Talon are... in contrast to the rest of the Loroi. If I had to guess, it almost looks like they are engaged in courtship rituals.

asaenvolk wrote:I find it interesting how close an touchy feely Spiral and Talon are... in contrast to the rest of the Loroi. If I had to guess, it almost looks like they are engaged in courtship rituals.

It's the galaxy's most careful game of "I'm not touching you", as the Loroi sit close enough to share body heat but not actually come into contact.

Poor girls. To think that they basically consider themselves dead men *cough* girls walking. But the deaths of the others before Spiral took the totem (which is basically what it is) kinda disproves that the bearer will bear all the bad luck of the members of the group in return of giving them good luck at her expense.

I expect Jardin to play hero after this to prove to them that their superstition is just that. Superstition.

CF2 wrote:

asaenvolk wrote:I find it interesting how close an touchy feely Spiral and Talon are... in contrast to the rest of the Loroi. If I had to guess, it almost looks like they are engaged in courtship rituals.

It's the galaxy's most careful game of "I'm not touching you", as the Loroi sit close enough to share body heat but not actually come into contact.

On the other hand, Talon does have about the right mixture of "Save me" and "Take me" in her expression and posture to ensure the highest probability of a favourable response by a receptive person. And it's directed at Alex.

...Nah, I'm just seeing things. Males are supposed to be the ones that need protection in Loroi society, not the other way round, after all. Though... Talon does seem to be even more open minded than Beryl is.

For something different - now, one can argue that the Seii doesn't quite do its job to make Spiral act like a lightning rod for bad fortune. After all, all of them are in quite a bit of a bind, and not Spiral dead and the rest of them out of the woods.

Dead women walking, surely?

That’s a great expression on Beryl’s face. Plus, look at her use tactful phrasing! She might be getting a gold star from Tempo... who has been conspicuously quiet.

So now I wonder, will Alex enlighten them about the dark god Murphy, before whom the mightiest works are nought but ash and seemingly minor discrepancies in operating procedure manuals?

On second thought, the Murphy effect should perhaps be kept secret, ‘cause either a) it’s true, and shouldn’t be spread to an unsuspecting universe or b) it’s not true, and says a lot about human cognition.

(Yes, I know the original formulation is “If it can go wrong, it eventually will.” But I prefer the superstitious version...)

The sweetest and most heroic thing Alex could do is ask Spiral if HE could wear the Seii... for them.
...I know I would do just that.

sunphoenix wrote:The sweetest and most heroic thing Alex could do is ask Spiral if HE could wear the Seii... for them.
...I know I would do just that.

Unfortunately, it would be a gallant but empty gesture. You have to be part of the group to bear the seii.

The seii is just a badge. An outlander can't claim to absorb dalid for a group of strangers... or, at least, that's not how Taben superstition works.

Fighter pilots picking up dudes, perhaps? I doubt Loroi culture does that, but presentation seems a bit like a fighter pilot at a friendly base before shipping out.

asaenvolk wrote:I find it interesting how close an touchy feely Spiral and Talon are... in contrast to the rest of the Loroi. If I had to guess, it almost looks like they are engaged in courtship rituals.

The others are colleagues. These two here are childhood friends. Might explain the difference.

Beryl seems very worried that Alex is taking this too seriously. I think that our two fighter jocks are waiting to sit around the "camp fire" with the warm human. Spiral and Talon have accepted their Wyrd and would be utterly confused if someone told them they could change their fate.

As I said before: Don't you dare kill off Spiral!

sunphoenix wrote:The sweetest and most heroic thing Alex could do is ask Spiral if HE could wear the Seii... for them.
...I know I would do just that.

It would be fitting if Alex replied now with a human proverb to "make your own luck". Talon and Spiral might like that attitude.

It's reminiscent of a lot of stories about WWI. Things like the British Pals battalions, which were made up of men recruited from a single area, and when those units inevitably suffered heavy casualties the area they were recruited from basically lost entire generations of men all at once. All Quiet on the Western Front also has hefty elements of joining as a group only to get mostly wiped out.

As Tolkien put it: "By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead."

On a separate note, I'm guessing that they didn't normally take the Seii into action with them as it probably would've been vaporized or simply not recovered if they had. When there are only two left and both are crewing the same shuttle for a possibly long duration assignment there's less of a risk of it being lost to survivors, since there likely wouldn't be any survivors left.

Random Person wrote:On a separate note, I'm guessing that they didn't normally take the Seii into action with them as it probably would've been vaporized or simply not recovered if they had. When there are only two left and both are crewing the same shuttle for a possibly long duration assignment there's less of a risk of it being lost to survivors, since there likely wouldn't be any survivors left.

It sounds like they do take the seii into action with them, as how would it serve its function if it wasn't borne by a member of the group? Though it may well be that it's just the two of them left now.

Physical possession might not be needed with the Seii. Formal ownership might be enough.

asaenvolk wrote:I find it interesting how close an touchy feely Spiral and Talon are... in contrast to the rest of the Loroi.

I believe that all their intolerance of being touched was worked out when they were sailing at small selfmade raft.

I think this is perfect bonding moments.

Alex is a survivor, the only one from his ship that he knows of, far from home in a situation he knows he is way over his head in that even if humanity picks the right side to survive this war that doesn't mean the species still isn't screwed.

At the same time, you have two young pilots born into a war, who have known nothing but war, and have seen just about everyone close to them die horribly in battle. THey also don't seem to have too much hope they will live long enough to see an end to the fight.

If Fire Blade is listening, then she is probably feeling the same thing but in her own way.

While I don't know much about the others backstories in this regard, they are probably old enough to have the same thoughts and feelings.

Beryle maybe the proverbial odd man out so to speak, which is more of a reason to feel miffed: Between her, Alex, and the fighter jocks, she is the outsider.

SaintofM wrote:Beryl maybe the proverbial odd man out so to speak, which is more of a reason to feel miffed: Between her, Alex, and the fighter jocks, she is the outsider.

Beryl didn't put it in words, but the message was clear that she considers those two to be superstitious country bumpkins... and of course she would be ticked off that they are actually earning brownie points with Alex in spades with their backwater viewpoint.

Yep, looks like there is some tension between Beryl on the left and Talon and Spiral on the right, and might be not just the current topic of conversation. Now I'm reminded of this page - after all, she asks Alex what Talon is doing, and in a way that almost accuses Talon of some wrongdoing, not the other way round.

Hmm so it seems they live to lie.