Oddly enough, that was pretty much my own reaction. This chapter just sort of... happened. The old brain switching gears for a bit to relieve the mechanical tension on the part that's doing Gothic, perhaps, like the British Army used to have to let those 6×6 APCs they had unwind their transfer cases before they broke something. :)

>Mio and Ritsu making
>things official as well was not exactly out of left field, but was at
>least to me a bit unexpected to have occurred at this point.

♪ blame it on hyperspace...

>I was also wondering if Niri's attachment to Yui was going to end up
>more permanent than Yui expected it would. That was delightful, and
>another good look into just how wise to these things Korra really is.

For a while, it was looking about 50/50 whether it would unfold the way it did, or the puppy Korra mentioned would be coming to look after Yui; but I figured she would have enough on her plate without having to train a PBD pup, and anyway, Niri pretty well made up her mind when she went with them on the summer microtour after they were finished on Mount Weitang; I just hadn't quite cottoned onto it yet.

>I have to admit I'm a -little- surprised that the HTT girls are going
>to be housed in a "on-campus but not -on- campus" location, but
>ultimately it makes a reasonable amount of sense.

Well, the way I figured it, living in a completely-unaffiliated setting (like a house or apartment in town) would be too detached, but given their background, settling them right on campus (in a suite/pod of one of the dorms, or siting something like Handel House in the midst of the scrum) would be throwing them in at the deep end. The administration is aware that they're from a setting where they were unlikely to encounter anything like the place they're in now, and splitting the difference seemed the best call. Plus, they can reuse the facility for other visiting faculty and special student groups later, if the music department doesn't keep a steady turnover in its own right.

(It's sort of in the mold of Galaxy House from Symphony 1, which was a block or two from WPI proper, and which was based on the real WPI's "World House" special residence.)

>(I'm also somewhat concerned for
>Touga and Mikage's efforts on campus, but then it looks like that was
>for the previous school year. Though that means it likely went
>entirely unnoticed, which has me somewhat more worried)

Well, not entirely unnoticed, but either way, it's over by the start of the fall semester.

>I've been massively enjoying Gallian Gothic as it comes out and
>deeply happy with the huge influx of new Eyrie work I get to read.

I'm glad to hear it. Gothic is as much a surprise as this piece popping out in the midst of it, really. I hadn't expected to get much of anywhere at all this year, after the drought that set in following Friends Like These, and given Real-World Events, but it's been a comfort to have something pleasant to lose myself in these past few weeks. Hopefully that train still has a ways to run.

--G.
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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.