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I'm not saying there aren't reasons to dislike her, but Jury and Miki are my favorite members of the Student Council. I don't really get to talk about Jury until Episode Seven, but if you think I'm going to stand for this, you've got another think coming ?

The IC thread is live! I've changed the bit in brackets to say "Conditional Acceptance" because, technically, there is still an open slot, but I'm not comfortable adding characters mid-island. When the current team resolves whatever's going on on Galatea (hopefully they don't smite the place but you never know...), we can talk about adding an additional app in.

OoC OH Muse, I sing to thee a song most pure And hope the winds might play again to you Please carry, breeze, the tune I’ve writ: a cure For all your ails and let your soul renew --Song for the End of the World, lines 1-4 Notes from Captain Helmsley’s Logbook I never got a clear answer from those dogs I picked up a few days back. “West” was all they told me. I think they trust that I’m going to get them to the right spot, but I’ll be damned if I know what that is. I never even found out how one of them got on this ship in the first place but he’s a watchdog too so he too got passage. I did have some cargo I needed to drop off that way, though. Got commissioned to take some fabrics out to Galatea. I know that’s not the farthest west you can get, but until I get some clearer answers, that’s about all I can give them. That’s not to imply Galatea is an awful place to be, of course. Once upon a time, before captaining this ship became what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, I thought for a bit about retiring there. I’d still probably like it, too. It’s not as big a trading hub as, say, Sindalium, but Sindalium has a load of other issues that Galatea just doesn’t have. I avoid Sindalium when I can. Galatea, though, what an island! If I had to pick one -- just one! -- feature that puts it above all the others this far west, what else can my answer be but the temple square? The temple square! Where every god and every goddess has a temple dedicated to them and no other. The architecture alone, every building is unique in its design, each one in exact specifications to the priests of that deity. It’s a marvel to look at. And not only that, the cobblestone area in the middle has each stone inscribed with a prayer. Some of them have faded over time, but the memories are still there. Speaking of memories, maybe I’ll stop by after handling my own business. It’s good to keep these old bones active. We’re set to arrive mid-morning tomorrow. I hope this is the place these dogs were meant to go. If it wasn’t, I hope they enjoy their stay. Amir’s Dream He dreams of a great bonfire. It crackles and roars and yet never seems to escape the confines set by its kindling. Surrounding it in concentric circles are an endless number of faceless beings, each staring at the fire. They seem to lean back and forth, gyrating, causing ripples of motion spreading back to where the fire’s light cannot reach. One of the beings, not from one of the closest rings, but maybe a ring or two back, steps forward. They are inches from the fire, now, and yet, they show no fear. Nor do they show any hesitation at all as they bend down and, in one swift motion, pull out a still-burning log from the fire. The fire continues to consume the wood, but the embers do not move onto their hand. Even as they hold the log aloft, even as they begin to hum a single, low note and begin to move again, back and forth, the fire only seems to burn the wood. The hum, like the movement of each individual form, seems to ripple back into the crowd. But each form hums a different tone, each one kind of matching the ones near it and yet never quite the same. It creates a cacophony, one that grows louder every moment as more and more join in. The ripples of movement move faster and faster. The sound drowns out the roar of the fire and continues to get louder and louder until, finally, the vision fades, and, eventually, so too does the hum. Emily Emily Briar paced back and forth on the dock, watching the Swallow Tail lazily drift down into port. It was late, and yes, the difference between “mid-morning” and “mid-day” was only a few hours, and yes, it was actually rather impressive that zeppelins arrived on the same day as their charted predictions, no matter the actual time, but didn’t they know she had business with one of its passengers? Well, of course they didn’t know; Emily hadn’t actually told them yet. But she just had to get their attention. She had put on her best dress and everything, a deep green to compliment her orange-red hair. She couldn’t fail now. So if the Swallow Tail could just land already, if everyone could disembark… There was a crowd starting to gather. Emily wondered if every island had these sorts of gawkers, the kind of people who showed up just to catch a glimpse of the new arrivals. She tried to pay these people no mind. They were just things to get around, and it wasn’t like she wasn’t willing to jab a few elbows into stomachs if she needed to. One particular member of the crowd drew her attention, though, and realizing who it was caused Emily to curse under her breath. What was Levanna Marcus doing here? What business did she have that couldn’t happen when the dogs inevitably made it up to the temple square? Emily watched her wade through the masses. Of course, she could command such authority that people just naturally got out of the way for her. Not even a “Make way!” or anything, just a fluid motion, always forward towards the docking zeppelin. At last, the ropes had finally all been tied. Emily’s journey to the front of the crowd, as expected, was significantly rougher than Levanna’s, but she managed all the same. She wasn’t able to get to the dogs first, but Emily was close enough now she could hear everything Levanna was saying. “Welcome to Galatea!” Levanna said, leading, of course, with that classic empty phrase accompanied by its naturally empty tone. “Welcome to our humble island. I trust you had a pleasant trip?” As Levanna continued with her introduction, (“My name is Levanna Marcus blah blah blah… I’m part of the council that oversees the theocratic goings-on around here blah blah blah…”) Emily craned her neck as she moved forward, trying to get a better glimpse. There was one specific watchdog she needed. More, of course, could never hurt, but she needed to know which of them specifically she needed to aim for. Emily had forgotten that watchdogs could be so young. Two of them were hardly older than she was! But it was the youngest one, and the only girl among the four, that caught her eye specifically. Nuumu’s watchdog, that had to be her. And so she pressed on. Levanna had just finished saying, “Why don’t we retire to my office chambers and I can show you a little hospitality? This afternoon may be a little busy for one of you; one of our blacksmiths has been toiling away at something he would like to offer to Taros. I’m sure it would mean the world to them if you oversaw the ceremony,” when, in one final surge, Emily managed to make it to the part in the crowd. And when Levanna turned around to lead the watchdogs away, Emily took her chance. Her hand shot out, seizing the Nuumu watchdog by the wrist. Her grip was firmer than she’d intended, but she was more focused on what she had to say next anyway. “Excuse me, miss,” Emily said. “I was wondering if you could come with me? It will only take a moment, and then I can show you to wherever you intend to go.” OOC

Melissa hadn’t heard about or seen any sort of duel space documentaries, but apparently Souji had, and the fact that he was affirming what she had spent time figuring out meant that by the time he’d finished, she was already feeling better. She’d already been feeling better, sure, but now she was able to ignore things like the idle hostility Jun and Souji seemed to have for each other. The point was, they were here, and they were here for her. Gabby, too, and who could forget about her? It was her servants and familiars who were keeping them protected; a few bats, for example, swooped in and made quick work of some assailant Melissa didn’t even see until it fell off the roof. It was the only such occasion on their short journey, but it was enough to affirm that that particular part wouldn’t fail. And now that she was thinking about it, with the Skull Servants and Vampire Familiars keeping people safe -- the fact that that wouldn’t fail made everything else a little easier. So Melissa’s spirits brightened even more. From: Melissa If you can, meet in the field just outside Taylor Hall in thirty minutes. It’ll be safe there. Melissa showed the message to Souji as Gabby slipped into her dorm room. “You probably saw this already, but can you forward this along too?” she said. “I guess it’s closer to fifteen or twenty minutes now, um, but we’re trying to spread the word.” She would have said more, but Gabby came back out pretty quick -- she spent much less time than Melissa felt she had. Gabby seemed pretty surprised to see her Skull Servants still there, but the moment passed quickly, and Melissa didn’t see the need to comment on it. “What is the next step in this plan of yours?” Gabby said. Right. Okay. Jun, Souji, Gabby, and she all had their duel disks now. Messages calling everyone else -- or everyone else they could think of, at least -- had been sent out. Now was the time to actually put things into action. The next step, of course, was being there.So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. -Isaiah 41:10 (NIV)Melissa led everyone and everyskeleton and everybat to the middle field, and how fortunate was it that they made it with time to spare? The more time they had, the more they could set up. There were still monsters everywhere, though. Most of them seemed innocent -- acorns and stuffed animals and whatnot -- but there were a few, especially the Fungi of the Musk over near Taylor Hall proper -- that definitely would cause problems if left unchecked. “Souji, I know you were the one running around all day,” Melissa said, “but do you think you can deal with a few more monsters for us? Maybe start here in the middle and work outwards, I don’t know.” She turned to Gabby. “We’re going to want the Skull Servants and the Familiars to set up a perimeter,” Melissa said. “I don’t know how big they can manage or even if they can stand being away from you, Gabby, but that’s- if we’re making a sanctuary, we have to establish its boundaries. People should be able to come in, and other monsters need to stay out. Can you do that for me?” And last, but certainly not least, “Jun, you’re in charge of taking care of the people that do come in. Get them comfortable, keep them feeling alright, I don’t know. It’s vague, I’m sorry. But they need to be thinking good thoughts just like we have been if this is going to work.”

Chris had been too focused on Sergei and Lana, he didn’t even see the kobold until Estellise speared it, a bolt of light impaling it, practically suspending it in place before it crumpled to the floor. “Thanks,” was all he could say. It was all he had time to say, really. Lana had popped back out of the tunnel (was her hand bleeding? That wasn’t good) and declared that tunnel clear, and with the group back together, it was time to move. “If I were to guess, I’d be there’s something in front of that last tunnel,” Chris said. “So stick to the left. You don’t have to be quick; you just have to be efficient. And there should be more in that first tunnel, keep an eye out for those, too.” He took the lead, practicing exactly what he’d preached. Looking back had other advantages, too, like making sure that everyone else was keeping behind, and, when he was even with the third tunnel, he could catch a glimpse of inside. What else would it be besides more kobolds? But these three had short spears instead of daggers, and they were clearly bolder than the ones that had come before. They came charging out the moment they spotted Chris, and all of a sudden they were trapped in combat again. But this time, there was no longer any element of surprise. He was ready for them. Just like with Leo, the first thing he had to do was close the distance, a feat he managed just as swiftly as he’d done then, and as he’d done with the rat two floors ago. The only difference now was making sure the kobold’s spear didn’t get anywhere near him, but a single deft step out of the way of the obvious thrust was all it took. But a moment later, he was running the kobold through with his sword. Two left. “Sergei!” Chris called out, hoping that was all it took to get his meaning across.

←Previous Post -- Next Post→ Duel 04 -- The Sunlit Garden - Prelude Or: A Two-Parter! We Only Get One So Let’s Enjoy It While We Can This week’s “above the break” section is going to be devoted to a quote from Ikuhara I’ve mentioned before, but am going to talk about in much more detail now: “All interpretations of Utena are correct.” I mentioned when I brought the quote up initially that I couldn’t exactly find a reliable source for this quote, but there are similar notes that express a similar mood. When Ikuhara is questioned about the imagery in his shows, he tends to either dodge the question or answer with some sort of lighthearted nonsense. For example, someone asked him what was special about Miki’s stopwatch, and he said, “Miki’s stopwatch contains the answer to all the mysteries of the world, and Miki is the only one who knows that. So I don’t know what it is either.” This isn’t an uncommon sentiment among creators in the public eye. David Lynch similarly refuses to talk about meanings behind the surreal imagery in any of his works. It’s a perspective that might seem restrictive, perhaps overwhelmingly so. If a viewer can’t glean any sort of meaning on their first watch, they might become frustrated with the work, and if the creator, as a perceived authority, isn’t willing to elaborate, that frustration is going to turn into outright dismissal. But let’s look at this another way for a moment. By removing themselves as a perceived authority, the creator might also be inviting interpretation. This, I would imagine, is an attempt to reach out to the people who, after viewing, might say, “This obviously means something, but I don’t know what yet.” Because in those cases, acting as an authority might collapse the potential space of the imagery, like how games with multiple endings tend to erase the “canon-ness” of all but one of their endings when a sequel comes out. I’ve been ignoring Death of the Author up to this point because while it’s a literary criticism term that gets thrown around a lot, and I’m not saying it doesn’t apply here -- obviously removing the author and their statements from interpretations of the text applies here, and it’s something I’m interested in talking about more in-depth in the future -- just that this sort of creative mindset towards one’s own work, under this reading of their actions, seems, well, to put it bluntly, geared towards the sorts of people who when confronted with some symbol, want to know what it means but don’t want to put in the work to figure it out. Next week, I’ll talk about the perceived authority of this blog itself, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll talk about Miki’s stopwatch. The Sunlit Garden is not just the title of three of Revolutionary Girl Utena’s Miki-focused episodes, it’s also a motif one can follow throughout the show. We even heard it all the way back in Episode One; it was the first thing we heard after the opening as the backstory was being explained to us. It’s here though, in Episode Four, that we start to understand exactly what it means. Miki practically says it outright: it’s his search for his “shining thing”. Because this is a theme that doesn’t just play around Miki -- Anthy plays it at the end of the episode -- we can imagine this search extending out to the rest of the cast it’s associated with as well. I keep alluding to this and not outright addressing it here, mostly because Utena isn’t exactly interested in revealing itself too quickly, but this is the first instance so this is where I’m going to start talking about another theme: the need to reconcile with the past. Utena, our main character, is clinging on to the memory of how she received her ring. Touga clearly has some sort of previous connection with Utena as well. Miki, in this episode, is continuously being reminded of his own past, of playing piano with someone. It’s another thing we’re going to keep seeing show up, and it’s something I’m going to keep pointing out wherever possible. The cheesy subtitle I gave this particular post referenced the fact that this episode is Utena’s only two-parter, or at least the only one labelled as such. It’s also the only episode (to my memory) that uses in medias res, starting with Miki and Utena at the dueling grounds before looping back to how we got here. It’s a bit of dramatic irony, then, that Miki seems so nice, that he says to Utena’s face that he doesn’t intend to duel her for Anthy’s hand. This episode -- this half of The Sunlit Garden -- doesn’t give a direct reason for why Miki does end up dueling, but we can see hints of it already. It’s obvious he’s attracted to Anthy, what with the arpeggio every time she says “Thank you!” and the blush that follows, but that’s not exactly why. Again, the episode spells it out for us: Anthy, he realizes, is his “shining thing”. One can probably already start drawing some reasons from that alone, but I’ll save that for the next episode when the fight finally breaks out. We also finally get introduced to the last member of the Student Council: Jury Arisugawa. We don’t get a lot from her this episode besides a little teasing, but the troubled look she gives when Miki expresses his excitement over suddenly finding some sort of happiness is going to mean a lot when we do start to get to know her. The episode does all this while also being a Nanami episode, a follow-up to Episode Three where Nanami tries to get revenge for her failed humiliation plot, and we’re going to see a subtle, barely elaborated on gag where Anthy begins to get her revenge. Nanami tries to slip a snail in Anthy’s pencil box? Well, that pencil box already has a nest of snails, and everyone else thinks it’s cute anyway. This gag and others like it is how we’re going to see Anthy’s repressed playful side; we’re not going to see her laughing at an elephant spitting a ball back in its face very often. Thanks again for reading, and I’ll see you all next week! -r Next time: We finally start resolving some flashbacks! ←Previous Post -- Link to Episode -- Next Post→