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Forum Name: Our Witches at War/Gallian Gothic
Topic ID: 108
#0, GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-16-20 at 04:11 PM
As Book 3 of Gallian Gothic opens, the Scarlet sisters and company have embarked on an expedition to Paris, in a bid to rejoin the world. But are they ready for the world... and is the world ready for them?

The Scarlet Devils Go to War, Act I: "Nuits à Paris"

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#1, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Zemyla on Nov-16-20 at 05:22 PM
In response to message #0
LAST EDITED ON Nov-16-20 AT 05:24 PM (EST)
 
> Oh, thought Berjeau, she's going to be one of those guests.

What does he mean by that? Was it meant to sound disgusted?

> In spite of her rapidly advancing maturity, Flandre saw nothing
> incongruous about her continued love of stuffed toys

Ah, a woman after my own heart.

> the latter had been to Paris more recently than Remilia, but had
> still missed everything after the late 1860s.

So she hasn't been to Paris, France, in the 2400s? Or is that different? Though if she had, it would explain how she knows the Eiffel Tower.

> "Then the Fourth Republic is a damned disgrace, and we'll
> have to overthrow it and set up one that isn't,"

The scary part is he could, if he set his mind to it.

> Meiling had just about exhausted her limited fund of small talk
> within the first few minutes, and she and the primly dressed,
> thirtyish woman from the Interior Ministry had been sitting across
> the coffee table from each other in an awkward silence

Ah, a woman after my own heart.

> On the Thursday of their first week in Paris, Meiling had the
> unusual experience of celebrating her birthday twice in the span
> of a few weeks

Ah, time travel. The best way to forget how old you actually are. I can't decide if the worst way is amnesia or having your years stolen by an evil sorceror.

I'm just a bit sad that Meiling's erhu playing doesn't have a Youtube link attached, though.

> She wasn't sure how she knew — she hadn't progressed far enough
> in her studies yet to recognize the gentle whispering of the Force
> in her mind's ear

Interesting, very interesting! So, like Anne between Ash Knight and Blades, she's connected to the Force, but doesn't recognize it as such yet.

Also, it's June 21st, the solstice, and at Paris's latitude that means over 16 hours of full daylight. I know Remilia and Flandre don't go sizzle fwoosh in the sun, but it seems like bad luck that they wind up going into the outside world for the first time in the summer.

> "The Minister wants to see us on Monday afternoon, ahead of
> President Auriol's return, which it say here they're expecting
> next Wednesday."

And that's very near the new moon. Now I'm worried that someone in the government may decide to try and finish the Committee for Public Safety's job by keeping them in paperwork until Friday, then striking. I doubt it'd be President Auriol, but it's not like he would screen his staff based on their feelings about vampires.

> "Oh wow," said Flandre, leaning closer. "Is that really what I look
> like?"

It occured to me just now that portrait artists would be invaluable for vampires, which (aside from their usual charm) explains their desire to have Julien Boissard draw them.

Speaking of which, is he based on anyone, or is he just a bohemian artist type?


#2, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Croaker on Nov-16-20 at 06:52 PM
In response to message #1
>> Oh, thought Berjeau, she's going to be one of those guests.
>
>What does he mean by that? Was it meant to sound disgusted?

Yeah. He thinks she's going to be the kind of demanding, insufferable noblewomen who demand to have their every whim catered to -- a Karen, in today's vernacular.

Fortunately, she's about as far from that as they come.


>
>> In spite of her rapidly advancing maturity, Flandre saw nothing
>> incongruous about her continued love of stuffed toys
>
>Ah, a woman after my own heart.

*grin*

>
>> the latter had been to Paris more recently than Remilia, but had
>> still missed everything after the late 1860s.
>
>So she hasn't been to Paris, France, in the 2400s? Or is that
>different? Though if she had, it would explain how she knows the
>Eiffel Tower.

Perhaps she missed the opportunity, or the TARDIS simply declined. I'm sure Ben will elaborate.


>
>> "Then the Fourth Republic is a damned disgrace, and we'll
>> have to overthrow it and set up one that isn't,"
>
>The scary part is he could, if he set his mind to it.

He probably could, but he'd really rather not. It's be impossibly rude. Especially since he's technically a German nobleman.

>
>> Meiling had just about exhausted her limited fund of small talk
>> within the first few minutes, and she and the primly dressed,
>> thirtyish woman from the Interior Ministry had been sitting across
>> the coffee table from each other in an awkward silence
>
>Ah, a woman after my own heart.

The joys of two people with nothing in common waiting on their superiors to act, yes.

>
>> On the Thursday of their first week in Paris, Meiling had the
>> unusual experience of celebrating her birthday twice in the span
>> of a few weeks
>
>Ah, time travel. The best way to forget how old you actually are. I
>can't decide if the worst way is amnesia or having your years stolen
>by an evil sorceror.
>
>I'm just a bit sad that Meiling's erhu playing doesn't have a Youtube
>link attached, though.

There are worse reasons for Second Birthday. Meiling doesn't qualify for the most common one, however -- 'Being a Hobbit'. She's a bit on the tall side for that one.

>
>> She wasn't sure how she knew — she hadn't progressed far enough
>> in her studies yet to recognize the gentle whispering of the Force
>> in her mind's ear
>
>Interesting, very interesting! So, like Anne between Ash Knight
>and Blades, she's connected to the Force, but doesn't recognize
>it as such yet.
>
>Also, it's June 21st, the solstice, and at Paris's latitude that means
>over 16 hours of full daylight. I know Remilia and Flandre don't go
>sizzle fwoosh in the sun, but it seems like bad luck that they wind up
>going into the outside world for the first time in the summer.

They'll have to face it eventually, and putting it off means making Ben go through another few months of managing mangled timelines. Remilia is a far more considerate woman than that.

>
>> "The Minister wants to see us on Monday afternoon, ahead of
>> President Auriol's return, which it say here they're expecting
>> next Wednesday."
>
>And that's very near the new moon. Now I'm worried that someone in the
>government may decide to try and finish the Committee for Public
>Safety's job by keeping them in paperwork until Friday, then striking.
>I doubt it'd be President Auriol, but it's not like he would screen
>his staff based on their feelings about vampires.

I suspect it's possible, or it could be one of those bait-and-switch things where we go in expecting a vampire hunter to ambush us and end up ambushed by Big Fire instead.


>
>> "Oh wow," said Flandre, leaning closer. "Is that really what I look
>> like?"
>
>It occured to me just now that portrait artists would be invaluable
>for vampires, which (aside from their usual charm) explains their
>desire to have Julien Boissard draw them.
>
>Speaking of which, is he based on anyone, or is he just a bohemian
>artist type?

He reminds me a lot of one of the "Young Indiana Jones" episodes, where Kid!Indy is in Paris and ends up hanging out with Norman Rockwell, Pablo Picasso, and Edgar Degas.


#4, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-16-20 at 08:52 PM
In response to message #2
>There are worse reasons for Second Birthday. Meiling doesn't qualify
>for the most common one, however -- 'Being a Hobbit'. She's a bit on
>the tall side for that one.

Although there are certain temperamental similarities. I could see Meiling getting along better in the Shire than most Big Folk, although the door heights would be a chronic problem. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#3, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-16-20 at 08:51 PM
In response to message #1
>> Oh, thought Berjeau, she's going to be one of those guests.
>
>What does he mean by that? Was it meant to sound disgusted?

Not so much disgusted as resigned. He's used to guests at her level having arbitrary whims, although insisting that the servants be treated like human beings and not cattle is pretty unusual.

>So she hasn't been to Paris, France, in the 2400s?

She has not. No particular reason to go there. She's read about the Eiffel Tower and seen pictures of it, though.

>> "Then the Fourth Republic is a damned disgrace, and we'll
>> have to overthrow it and set up one that isn't,"
>
>The scary part is he could, if he set his mind to it.

Oh, he's totally not joking, although he really hopes he won't have to follow through. It would be tricky to explain the necessity to Perrine, for one thing.

>I'm just a bit sad that Meiling's erhu playing doesn't have a Youtube
>link attached, though.

I didn't really have the bandwidth to educate myself on the subject sufficiently to make appropriate selections, but here is a Singaporean gentleman giving a basic overview, and here we have an erhu player and a cellist, which gives something of a flavor of what a Meiling-Sakuya duet would sound like.

>Also, it's June 21st, the solstice, and at Paris's latitude that means
>over 16 hours of full daylight. I know Remilia and Flandre don't go
>sizzle fwoosh in the sun, but it seems like bad luck that they wind up
>going into the outside world for the first time in the summer.

It's a bit annoying, particularly to Remilia, but that's life at a relatively high latitude. And as you note, at least they're semi-daywalkers. Otherwise the whole enterprise would be pretty much impossible.

>> "Oh wow," said Flandre, leaning closer. "Is that really what I look
>> like?"
>
>It occured to me just now that portrait artists would be invaluable
>for vampires, which (aside from their usual charm) explains their
>desire to have Julien Boissard draw them.

Indeed. They do have working non-silvered mirrors at home, so it's not as if Flandre literally didn't know what she looked like, but there's something different about seeing yourself through someone else's eyes, as it were. (And we always look odd to ourselves in drawings and photographs because our asymmetries all look backward—ironically enough, because they're not backward like they are in a mirror.)

>Speaking of which, is he based on anyone, or is he just a bohemian
>artist type?

Not meant to represent any specific person, just the archetype of the aspiring Parisian street artist. (Although as it happens, he's somewhat less bohemian than the stereotype. Even though he lives in Montmartre and runs in those circles, he'd be a bit over his head in the full-blown demimonde. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#5, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by SpottedKitty on Nov-16-20 at 09:20 PM
In response to message #3
>>I'm just a bit sad that Meiling's erhu playing doesn't have a Youtube
>>link attached, though.
>
>I didn't really have the bandwidth to educate myself on the subject
>sufficiently to make appropriate selections, but
>here is a Singaporean gentleman giving a basic overview,
>and here we have an erhu player and a cellist,
>which gives something of a flavor of what a Meiling-Sakuya duet would sound like.

And here's one I dug up, with some nice closeups of just how it's played. Interesting, I didn't realise at first the bow is actually in between the strings. And a very nice sound to it, as well; the description in the story fits perfectly. I think I like it.

--
Unable to save the day: File is read-only.


#21, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by ImpulsiveAlexia on Nov-18-20 at 12:19 PM
In response to message #3
>(And we always look odd to ourselves in
>drawings and photographs because our asymmetries all look
>backward—ironically enough, because they're not backward
>like they are in a mirror.)

OT, but I wonder if that's changing given that some people probably look at themselves through cellphone cameras more often than they do in mirrors.

>>Speaking of which, is he based on anyone, or is he just a bohemian
>>artist type?
>
>Not meant to represent any specific person, just the archetype of the
>aspiring Parisian street artist.

My headcanon is that he will eventually have a grandson who is the local version of ZUN. (Or whatever a chronologically suitable relationship is, if 'grandson' isn't.)

-IA.

("Sadly, he did not inherit all of his grandfather's artistic ability...")


#25, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-18-20 at 02:36 PM
In response to message #21
>My headcanon is that he will eventually have a grandson who is the
>local version of ZUN. (Or whatever a chronologically suitable
>relationship is, if 'grandson' isn't.)

I wonder if postwar Fusōnese pop culture will be more or less weird than IRL Japan's...

--G.
less national trauma, more supernatural hijinx
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#6, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Peter Eng on Nov-16-20 at 11:40 PM
In response to message #0
a bear Gryphon had made for her out of odds and ends

In my head, this resembles a Boko Bear, if they made them in a "two years after the injury" style.

"Then the Fourth Republic is a damned disgrace, and we'll have to overthrow it and set up one that isn't,"

Well, that would be simpler than conquering the universe.

"...you angel-faced assassin of joy?"

It's good to know Sakuya gets more respect than Vir.

He had a sketchbook propped on the table before him in one hand,

I can't fault his taste. His impulsive decision to sketch without asking, yes. On the other hand, he makes up for it later.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.


#7, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Astynax on Nov-17-20 at 01:27 AM
In response to message #0
>Compared to those two, their companions were almost unremarkable—a handsome
>young woman in a maid's uniform, notable at first glance only by the
>steel-grey color of her hair, and an extremely tall redhead dressed in green
>and white, her clothes of a distinctly foreign cut. Given her height and
>exotic dress, she would have been the most instantly noticeable member of
>virtually any other group, and yet compared to the two with wings, she almost
>slipped into the background.
>

It says some things about how noticeable the Scarlet sisters' wings and general fashion are that this statement can be made about Meiling and Sakuya of all people. Though Remilia's ability to simply... take over a room, seemingly any room she is in, also feeds both into and from that. I'm actually impressed at the fellow manning the desk's ability to recover as well as he did.

>"But of course, Madame la Comtesse."
>"Mademoiselle," Remilia corrected him.
>

I'm mildly surprised that this correction is necessary as often as it seems to be, Remilia doesn't exactly look even a fraction of her age (surely not a day over 399, and I'm really glad she can't actually punish me for that joke) so I wonder is it just the title that leads to the assumption?

Also, is it just how I'm reading it, or does she enjoy, at least mildly, correcting people about this, possibly because of how soon that status is scheduled to change?

>Oh, thought Berjeau, she's going to be one of those guests.
>

Probably not a fraction as much as he fears, at least not without being given cause.

>Then, the matter disposed of to her satisfaction, she went to the table in the
>corner where the suite's telephone sat and picked it up, wondering if there
>were anything she had to do besides that to get it to work.
>

This threw me a little. Telephones were invented well after the SDM was shoved into its bubble, and I believe after Sakuya vanished, certainly they wouldn't have been well known until after that point at any rate. So how did remilia become familiar with them?

>"I'm not sure she even really understands money," said Gryphon with a
>thoughtful look. "She's never had to. Ah well, I'm sure Sakuya can keep her out
>of trouble. Her maid," he explained to Whittle's questioning look. "She's the
>real brains of the operation," he added with a grin.
>

She's probably not likely to need to, unless she brought the lion's share of the Scarlet fortune with her to Paris (and even then.)

Also, while Remilia might quietly agree with the sentiment, the bit about Sakuya seems like the sort of comment that would demand some small retribution if word of it gets back to her.

>Remilia blinked. "Ah. That's... rather more than I was expecting," she
>confessed.
>"As it turns out," Sakuya reported imperturbably, "two-hundred-year-old gold
>louis are worth even more than their considerable weight of metal, if one finds
>the right buyers. The concierge was most helpful in that regard." Seating
>herself elegantly next to Meiling on the opposite side of the table, she went
>on with a slight smile, "I fear we may have destabilized the market in
>collector coins of the period for the present, however."
>"So noted," Remilia said. "Still, this should get us through, if we're
>careful," she deadpanned.
>

Remilia may not fully understand money, but clearly she knows when she has Beyond Enough of it.

Also, the Neuroi are noted to take iron, did they go after other metals like gold? If so, destabilized or not, the collector's market is going to be ecstatic at that treasure trove appearing.

>"I read books, m'lady," Sakuya replied placidly, causing Flandre to snicker.
>

I recall Sakuya being noted as having a neutral accent in whatever language she's speaking, but that line just demands the standard issue British servant's accent in my head.

>"Then the Fourth Republic is a damned disgrace, and we'll have to overthrow it
>and set up one that isn't," he said, and though he grinned as though it were a >joke, something in his eyes told her it wasn't, really.
>"We're kind of busy," she pointed out.
>

So others have commented on the setup line here, and I had the same thoughts, but I thought it noteworthy that Shizuka could receive that, including the darker undertone, interpret it correctly, and then respond not that G was insane or somesuch, or that the 501st wouldn't want to take part in overthrowing a duly constituted allied government, but just that they might not be able to squeeze it into their schedule.

>"Mnnn... you beast," she mumbled, and then, blushing in her sleep, "... the
>kitchen? control yourself..."
>

And so we have proof that 'you beast' is Remilia code for 'keep going', but I am especially impressed by Sakuya's ability to maintain her composure through this scene. Forget an iron will, that an adamantium will in action right there.

>"The contract does not name the target any more precisely than that, but it
>does specify, and in very strict terms, the exact date on which it was to take
>place: the 10th of Floréal, Anno II of the Republican Era." Folding her hands
>in her lap, she maintained eye contact with Remilia and continued calmly, "I'm
>convinced that this document refers to the attack on your family. In that
>context, certain surviving scraps of reports made after that date to Deputy
>Robespierre take on a significance they have never before possessed. It's my
>belief that this evidence, taken together, confirms everything you described in
>your letter to President Auriol."
>

On the topic of people with wills made out of exotic, durable metals Madame de Moret is clearly no slouch in that department either. I wonder if she was chosen for the assignment based on that trait?

>"Music is music," Flandre said pragmatically. "We'll figure it out!" She
>grinned.
>

This makes me look forward to Flandre crossing paths with the rather large number of musicians either in or somehow attached to the Greater Gryphon Clan one day. Shimakaze's keyboard etc. will probably blow her mind in the best possible way.

>Lacking much of an eye for such things herself, Flandre was content to leave >the job to her elder sister and instead go a-viking among the bookshops and >music stores.
>

Unavoidable, and amusing, mental image of Flandre wearing the cliched, and inaccurate, horned helm and wielding a preposterously huge battleaxe goes here.

>That's the one, she thought. The other was a scantily-bearded young man,
>in his late teens or perhaps early twenties, sitting at the far edge of the
>café's iron-railing-enclosed outdoor seating area. He had a sketchbook propped
>on the table before him in one hand, and the other was drawing furiously, his
>eyes flicking intently between her and the paper.
>

Flandre acquires her first admirer from the outside world. At least this is all pre-paparazzi, pretty sure a few folks would end up eating their cameras after a while in that situation.

>Remilia shook her head. "No, M. Boissard, we are not witches." Then, smiling
>her slightly-edged smile again, she went on, "We're vampires."
>

I don't quite know why, but I continue to take joy from this revelation being dropped on people throughout this series. Clearly Remilia is enjoying it as well here.

>"After which," Remilia put in, sitting back in the chair with steepled
>fingertips, "let us discuss your commission rates. And if the offer is still
>open, I believe I'll have some wine after all."
>"I... think I need a bit more myself," Julien agreed.
>

Julien is fortunate they not only want him to keep and finish the portrait of Flandre, but produce more, because otherwise his compatriots would assume he'd swapped out wine for full potency absinthe if he told them about his night.


-={(Astynax)}=-
"This Space For Rent."


#8, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Peter Eng on Nov-17-20 at 01:49 AM
In response to message #7
>
>>Then, the matter disposed of to her satisfaction, she went to the table in the
>>corner where the suite's telephone sat and picked it up, wondering if there
>>were anything she had to do besides that to get it to work.
>>
>
>This threw me a little. Telephones were invented well after the SDM
>was shoved into its bubble, and I believe after Sakuya vanished,
>certainly they wouldn't have been well known until after that point at
>any rate. So how did Remilia become familiar with them?
>

Just a guess, but perhaps she saw one in a film on date night.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.


#10, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-17-20 at 02:07 AM
In response to message #8
>>This threw me a little. Telephones were invented well after the SDM
>>was shoved into its bubble, and I believe after Sakuya vanished,
>>certainly they wouldn't have been well known until after that point at
>>any rate. So how did Remilia become familiar with them?
>>
>
>Just a guess, but perhaps she saw one in a film on date night.

Oh yeah! That too.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#9, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-17-20 at 02:06 AM
In response to message #7
LAST EDITED ON Nov-17-20 AT 02:07 AM (EST)
 
>>Compared to those two, their companions were almost unremarkable
>
>It says some things about how noticeable the Scarlet sisters' wings
>and general fashion are that this statement can be made about Meiling
>and Sakuya of all people.

Indeed—although Sakuya has noticed that, under some conditions, Meiling seems to have a Somebody Else's Problem field. If she wants to, she can almost disappear, or at least escape notice, despite the fact that she ought to stand out like a sledgehammer in a rack of screwdrivers most of the time. It's similar to a trick she's seen the Chief pull more than once, and she wishes she could learn how to do it, although with The World she doesn't really need it.

>Though Remilia's ability to simply... take
>over a room, seemingly any room she is in, also feeds both into and
>from that. I'm actually impressed at the fellow manning the desk's
>ability to recover as well as he did.

Given his profession, training, and experience, the reaction he did pull was akin to a Tex Avery wild take from a normal person. He's the desk manager of a Grand Hotel—these guys are tank-bred with the genes for unflappability. :)

>>"But of course, Madame la Comtesse."
>>"Mademoiselle," Remilia corrected him.
>
>I'm mildly surprised that this correction is necessary as often as it
>seems to be, Remilia doesn't exactly look even a fraction of her age
>(surely not a day over 399, and I'm really glad she
>can't actually punish me for that joke)
so I wonder is it just
>the title that leads to the assumption?

I think it's a combination of the title, her bearing, and the silver hair. The combination creates a cognitive conflict with the first impression that comes from her overall appearance, and people start second-guessing themselves.

>Also, is it just how I'm reading it, or does she enjoy, at least
>mildly, correcting people about this, possibly because of how soon
>that status is scheduled to change?

I don't think it's just you. :)

>>Then, the matter disposed of to her satisfaction, she went to the table in the
>>corner where the suite's telephone sat and picked it up, wondering if there
>>were anything she had to do besides that to get it to work.
>
>This threw me a little. Telephones were invented well after the SDM
>was shoved into its bubble, and I believe after Sakuya vanished,
>certainly they wouldn't have been well known until after that point at
>any rate. So how did remilia become familiar with them?

She's not familiar with them—hence not knowing what she had to do to use this one, which fortunately turned out to be "nothing"—but she's run across enough mentions of them in the more modern books Gryphon has brought to the house that she at least recognized what it was when she saw it.

>She's probably not likely to need to, unless she brought the lion's
>share of the Scarlet fortune with her to Paris (and even then.)

Oh no, not even slightly. There are boxes and boxes of old coins and whatnot in the basement. Many of the coins are older than that, but she picked ones from the last 50 years or so before That Night in hopes of not shocking collectors too badly or causing too much of a ruckus, as, for instance, if Sakuya had turned up at an antiquarian coin dealer's shop with a handful of 13th-century Strasbourgeois kreuzer (which would have been the currency of choice in the Colmar region when her father first moved there in the early 1200s).

>Remilia may not fully understand money, but clearly she knows when she
>has Beyond Enough of it.

Well, unless you're someplace that's experiencing catastrophic hyperinflation (like, say, Weimar Germany), an entire suitcase stuffed full of cash suggests certain things about one's available wealth. :)

>Also, the Neuroi are noted to take iron, did they go after other
>metals like gold? If so, destabilized or not, the collector's market
>is going to be ecstatic at that treasure trove appearing.

They didn't, only iron (investigators are divided on whether they use it for fuel or building material), but so many people assumed they would and buried coins and bullion before fleeing the occupied areas that folks will be finding buried treasure scattered around the countryside for decades. Those coin dealers Sakuya sold the louis to probably assume they came from such a find.

>So others have commented on the setup line here, and I had the same
>thoughts, but I thought it noteworthy that Shizuka could receive that,
>including the darker undertone, interpret it correctly, and then
>respond not that G was insane or somesuch, or that the 501st wouldn't
>want to take part in overthrowing a duly constituted allied
>government, but just that they might not be able to squeeze it into
>their schedule.

Shizuka gets him pretty well—well enough to know that he wasn't entirely kidding, but also that it would have been his absolute last resort, in part because it would be extremely hard to sell to the rest of the crew. (And although he said "we", he really reckons he'd have to do it alone.)

And really, he's exaggerating somewhat, and they both know it. He wouldn't have to topple the Fourth Republic, only its present government, which would be trivially easy by comparison.

"Don't you think he looks tired?"

>>"Mnnn... you beast," she mumbled, and then, blushing in her sleep, "... the
>>kitchen? control yourself..."
>
>And so we have proof that 'you beast' is Remilia code for 'keep
>going', but I am especially impressed by Sakuya's ability to maintain
>her composure through this scene. Forget an iron will, that an
>adamantium will in action right there.

It wouldn't have done to disturb the young mistress. :)

>On the topic of people with wills made out of exotic, durable metals
>Madame de Moret is clearly no slouch in that department either. I
>wonder if she was chosen for the assignment based on that trait?

Not specifically, but you don't get to be where she is in her career without being pretty tough-minded. Also, sike many of the female personnel of the Seventh Bureau, she's a retired witch, albeit not a combat veteran (her career fell in between the wars).

>This makes me look forward to Flandre crossing paths with the rather
>large number of musicians either in or somehow attached to the Greater
>Gryphon Clan one day.

You're not alone!

>Flandre acquires her first admirer from the outside world. At least
>this is all pre-paparazzi, pretty sure a few folks would end up eating
>their cameras after a while in that situation.

Indeed, attempts at photography are going to be pretty futile before the invention of charged coupled devices, unless someone has invented a photographic process that involves some magical medium rather than silver halides.

>Julien is fortunate they not only want him to keep and finish the
>portrait of Flandre, but produce more, because otherwise his
>compatriots would assume he'd swapped out wine for full potency
>absinthe if he told them about his night.

They might anyway, until and unless one or more of them happens to meet his new clients. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#13, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by VoidRandom on Nov-17-20 at 10:19 AM
In response to message #9
>>Indeed, attempts at photography are going to be pretty futile before
>the invention of charged coupled devices, unless someone has invented
>a photographic process that involves some magical medium rather than
>silver halides.

Minor note, there are a number of non-silver photographic processes that predate the time the story is set in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_process
https://printedpicture.artgallery.yale.edu/non-silver-processes

-VR
Cyanotype probably wouldn't give a desired effect though.
"They copied all they could follow, but they couldn't copy my mind,
And I left 'em sweating and stealing a year and a half behind."


#14, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-17-20 at 05:27 PM
In response to message #13
LAST EDITED ON Nov-17-20 AT 05:28 PM (EST)
 
>Minor note, there are a number of non-silver photographic processes
>that predate the time the story is set in.
>
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_process
>https://printedpicture.artgallery.yale.edu/non-silver-processes

Strangely enough, if you look more closely, a lot of those "non-silver processes" still involve silver. Regardless, it seems unlikely that anyone ever produced mass-market portable cameras based on any of those systems, and you need that technology to have anything approximating a paparazzi culture.

--G.
and I knew someone would bring up cyanotype... :)
-><-
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Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#28, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Proginoskes on Nov-19-20 at 00:36 AM
In response to message #14
I think it's because people conflate photographic printing with photography in general, which as Mr. Benson notes requires silver in the film.* The Physautotype avoids silver by way of extremely long exposure times, and I don't think Flandre would even be capable of sitting eight hours for a portrait, never mind willing.

*: Blueprints and carbon prints from non-photographic negatives don't involve silver.

I do love the way he talks about the Woodburytype. "Now this is like the first person who ate an oyster. Who ever decided to try it?"


#22, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by ImpulsiveAlexia on Nov-18-20 at 12:35 PM
In response to message #9
>>Flandre acquires her first admirer from the outside world. At least
>>this is all pre-paparazzi, pretty sure a few folks would end up eating
>>their cameras after a while in that situation.
>
>Indeed, attempts at photography are going to be pretty futile before
>the invention of charged coupled devices, unless someone has invented
>a photographic process that involves some magical medium rather than
>silver halides.

It seems like the kind of thing Remilia the Elder might have turned her skills towards in time, had things gone differently, and it felt like a very bitter irony when I first thought of that. Of course, that wouldn't just butterfly away the chain of events leading here, the metaphor would need something heavier, like a serval. (Or a Serval.)

Oh, and the process would have to go into mass production outside her control to get paparazzi, because I'm sure she'd have the taste to refuse to sell to them otherwise.

-IA.

(I am not sure what "eating their cameras" means in this context.)


#23, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Astynax on Nov-18-20 at 12:49 PM
In response to message #22
>(I am not sure what "eating their cameras" means in this context.)

My original thought when making the comment was that one or more of the SDM crew would become annoyed enough at paparazzi to force feed said invasive photographers their equipment to make them stop. I hadn't thought about the futility of attempting to photograph a vampire before CCD imaging came about.


-={(Astynax)}=-
"This Space For Rent."


#11, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by drakensis on Nov-17-20 at 02:31 AM
In response to message #0
It occurred to me last time that Remillia used 'you beast', that she may have picked the phrase up from Lynette Bishop in her brief visit to the 501st.

#12, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-17-20 at 02:38 AM
In response to message #11
>It occurred to me last time that Remillia used 'you beast', that she
>may have picked the phrase up from Lynette Bishop in her brief visit
>to the 501st.

I kinda wish that were true now that you've said it, but in fact she first used the phrase back in TTW Act V:

"You see, I can be useful," he kidded her. "Here, you're off-center. This mirror needs a polish, I'll put that on my to-do list."

She glanced up and back over her shoulder, smiling, as he stood behind her and adjusted her neckcloth. "You're very useful. More useful than you need to be, really." Affecting aristocratic languor, she went on, "I shall find it ever so tiresome doing everything myself again when you go back to your life."

She said it lightly, as a joke, but Gryphon knew her well enough by now to recognize that his departure—no longer imminent, as he had no intention of decamping on this particular full moon like they'd both originally planned, but inevitable sooner or later—was weighing on her mind a bit.

"In what way," he inquired, pausing to kiss her on the cheek, "is what I'm doing right now not my life?"

Her face colored with a mix of pleasure and embarrassment. "You know what I mean."

"I'm sure I'm getting along just fine without me," Gryphon assured her, making her giggle. Then he leaned a little farther down and kissed the side of her neck, which made her jump.

"Ah! Not there, you beast," she said, her blush flaming.

Gryphon chuckled. "A vampire who's weak to having her neck kissed? There's a joke in there somewhere."

"Yes, yes, very funny," said Remilia with a roll of her eyes.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#15, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by The Traitor on Nov-17-20 at 06:05 PM
In response to message #0
As a stuffed friend enthusiast and, more specifically, a deranged hoarder collector of plush elephants, could I put in a recommendation for Flandre to see in the window of a run-down, dusty toy shop in Paris an elephant in a little gold crown and a green suit, to which she is unaccountably drawn. The elephant is hand-crafted, and one of the eyes is slightly mismatched because toy parts are bottom of the priority list in war-torn and rebuilding Gallia, and his fashionable clothes are a little rumpled and worn, but some special technique has made him very soft and snuggly. The big toy shops have similar-looking elephants, with bright green velvet and shiny gold crowns and tusks that are the same length, but none of them feel quite so real as this one does to Flandre.

And so she leaves, with a Babar The Elephant of her very own, after promising to the little old man behind the counter that she will take only the best possible care of him. She does not know who Babar is; the old man thinks she must be the only girl in Paris of her (apparent) age who doesn't, but pays it no mind. And she knows the real value of something made from scraps and leftovers and spare parts with love and care and patience and kindness, because in some dark and unpleasant part of her still-recovering psyche, that's how she views herself. She was repaired, slowly.

She comes back the next day, with Babar and M. Le Président in tow, and asks to learn to make toys. It is fiddly, detailed, delicate work, long hours for little money, but she is unperturbed. She knows what the real reward is. The old man is patient, and kind, and teaches those as much as needlework and articulation and the hundred other fine points of stuffed animal creation. She learns, and loves to learn, and will be back tomorrow.

The shop has gone by tomorrow, of course. Remilia wonders if it was ever there at all.

Flandre knows it was real, in the way that matters.

Just ask Babar.

---
"She's old, she's lame, she's barren too, // "She's not worth feed or hay, // "But I'll give her this," - he blew smoke at me - // "She was something in her day." -- Garnet Rogers, Small Victory

FiMFiction.net: we might accept blatant porn involving the cast of My Little Pony but as God is my witness we have standards.

this has been the flandre scarlet wholesome hour


#16, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by VoidRandom on Nov-18-20 at 02:15 AM
In response to message #15
> an elephant in a little gold crown and a green suit,

Ah, Babar.
My favorite French elephant.
Don't forget the spats.

-VR
Babar is where I learned to read cursive.
"They copied all they could follow, but they couldn't copy my mind,
And I left 'em sweating and stealing a year and a half behind."


#17, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-18-20 at 02:46 AM
In response to message #15
LAST EDITED ON Nov-18-20 AT 02:27 PM (EST)
 
Hmm, that's pretty. I don't know at this moment whether it'll fit, but I like it, so I might just give it a go. Also, by a weird coincidence, I just recently read a doujinshi that featured a(n unusually sane, for doujinshi) version of Flan whose hobby is making stuffed toys. She mentions to Marisa (who is slightly amazed by how good she is at it) that she gives them to Sakuya for her birthday, which is a thoroughly adorable image.

Edit: Found the operative page.

(Note that in this doujin, as in GG, Sakuya doesn't know when her actual birthday is. In UF, of course, she observes it on March 30.)

I'm not very familiar with Babar, for whatever reason, although I knew of the character. From the Wikipedia page, it seems like he's sort of the French equivalent (culturally, if not literarily) of Paddington Bear, which is kind of cool. (The Wikipedia page also contains an excellent illustration of one of my personal maxims of academia, If a thing is worth thinking, it's worth overthinking, in re some critics getting het up about the implied imperialism in a book where an African animal aspires for his people to live like middle-class Frenchmen. :)

Also, just as an aside, it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that M. le Président refers to Flan's Teddy bear, and you were not suggesting that she take the actual President of France Gallia along with her. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#18, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Star Ranger4 on Nov-18-20 at 05:08 AM
In response to message #17
>Also, just as an aside, it took me an embarrassingly long time to
>figure out that M. le Président refers to Flan's Teddy bear, and you
>were not suggesting that she take the actual President of France along
>with her. :)
>
If it is any consolation, that is what I thought as well?

#26, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-18-20 at 02:37 PM
In response to message #17
Oh hey, speaking of stuffed elephants, this just became available today. A little taste of the Baader-Meinhof effect for everybody. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#31, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by SneakyPete on Nov-21-20 at 10:57 PM
In response to message #17
"mm, that's pretty. I don't know at this moment whether it'll fit, but I like it, so I might just give it a go."

Leave the time indeterminate, and make a Mini-story of it?


#32, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-21-20 at 11:55 PM
In response to message #31
>"mm, that's pretty. I don't know at this moment whether it'll fit, but
>I like it, so I might just give it a go."
>
>Leave the time indeterminate, and make a Mini-story of it?

Considered, but it looks like there's no need, it's fitting into the timeline just fine. It might make the next episode run a bit long, but it's not like I have to fit a time slot here. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#19, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Peter Eng on Nov-18-20 at 10:13 AM
In response to message #15
In my head, this eventually becomes a multiple-try project at making a gryphon plushie.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.


#24, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-18-20 at 02:34 PM
In response to message #19
>In my head, this eventually becomes a multiple-try project at making a
>gryphon plushie.

That would definitely be on the list. Also representations of the SDM crew in the style of either Raggedy Ann or those seated Japanese character plushies I can't remember the word for (not nesoberi, those are the giant heads ones).

--G.
and possibly an adorable bat wearing a pink mob cap
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#27, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Star Ranger4 on Nov-18-20 at 03:14 PM
In response to message #24
>--G.
>and possibly an adorable bat wearing a pink mob
>cap

Owie. Those WERE my nasal passeges.
>.<;
gosh, you'd think I'd a learnt by now.


#30, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by SneakyPete on Nov-21-20 at 10:49 PM
In response to message #24
And now I'm picturing Flandre meeting Lady Verthandi.

#33, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Gryphon on Nov-22-20 at 00:01 AM
In response to message #30
>And now I'm picturing Flandre meeting Lady Verthandi.

I'm just hoping she meets her before Urd.

--G.
"Urthr, I cannot help but notice that you seem to have debauched my sister-in-law." "Ha! Y'think sho? I'm—hic!—th'victim here!"
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


#34, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Zemyla on Nov-22-20 at 10:41 AM
In response to message #24
>That would definitely be on the list. Also representations of the SDM
>crew in the style of either Raggedy Ann or those seated Japanese
>character plushies I can't remember the word for (not nesoberi,
>those are the giant heads ones).

Given that Remilia is marrying someone who's galactically famous, she might wind up seeing plushes of herself and the rest of the SDM in actual stores, which would definitely be a shock.

Also, I just imagined Lensmen plushes where the Lenses act as certificates of authenticity.


#20, RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by MuninsFire on Nov-18-20 at 11:04 AM
In response to message #15
....this hit me right in the feels.

#29, typo! RE: GG 3/I: Nuits à Paris
Posted by Willard on Nov-20-20 at 10:11 PM
In response to message #0
lodging together?" soe wondered.

I dont usually spot typos but that one jumped out at me.