Page 416

by Aria on March 27, 2017 at 11:57 PM

Chapter: Mile High Engage

+52

i know

Next update is three pages again, I’m gonna try real hard for this weekend. Thank you very much for reading <3

gqbrielle

please stop apologizing, it’s glorious!

“i know”

ouuuuch
- Aria
  
  They’re pretty good at reading each other by now. Mana’s a brat but she’s working very hard to be more reasonable!
  - caribouchat
    
    She looked very reasonable to me, when she talked to Phineas earlier about how Raven used her weaknesses, and also when she talked to Ulrich a “long” time ago…
    - Aria
      
      Haha she’s a difficult character to explain. Emotions are an entirely new thing to her so it’s hard to figure how she’ll react to things sometimes.
      
      And when she was talking so calmly with Ulrich, she’d just gotten something she wanted and had someone cowering in fear of her. Right where a god is most comfortable
      - caribouchat
        
        You know this raises a new question, right? What did she just get then? Should I know/remember?
      - Aria
        
        It wasn’t super important after the fact! She just wanted to kill that instance of the tain and was allowed to.
      - caribouchat
        
        Oh, well, ok, straightforward.
caribouchat

Raven’s dead but the fish are still there…
I wonder “where” they are when they speak together like this, what is this space where we can see Mana and the others? Or is it only visible in Phineas’ mind?
And also, can an isolated star like the derelict’s eye is now have an effect on the world?
(And if Jo has a part of a star, I would really like to see what it’s like…)
- caribouchat
  
  Ah, I forgot: too bad Phineas doesn’t know about Rook’s wounds. I’m sure she would have done something about them. Well, maybe.
  - Aria
    
    That’s a real good question actually. Her feelings about Rook are kinda muddy, but I do know Ulrich would be the priority between them, so if she thought they’d been having a pretty rough fight I’m certain she wouldn’t want to do something that might put him in more danger.
- Aria
  
  Some kind of magical subspace inner monologue dimension lmao.
  
  So in the case of the big ol starstone that was down in the mines, the stone brought HER into ITS little realm of mental existence? This particular one seems kind of like a real hasty little manifestation of a space to meet in, since Phineas basically had to jam herself between Mana and the star. I don’t know if you personally have any experience with it, but I think of them a lot like the witch barriers from Madoka Magica, for anyone who might be reading. There’s also a phenomenon like this in FMA:B when Ling is shown speaking with Greed, or anyone speaks with the imp in the door after human transmutation.
  
  It’s not a new thing at all but trying to explain it here is actually kinda complicated haha. It’s not a huge deal, it’s just a way to show some ethereal folks meeting for a lil tea and discussion that’s more interesting than showing text overlaid with what’s happening outside. We also established way back when that these conversations happen MUCH faster than things happen in the physical plane, so there’s no way these three pages would have fit overtop of Hazard’s eye exploding and knocking Phineas back against the desk. Maybe 15 seconds have passed out here.
  
  The question of what a freed star does on its own is also a good one, but I’m not gonna answer that one just now~
  
  We’ll probably see it someday! It’s generally an indicator that something’s wrong if we see someone’s star though, so I imagine shit will have to be getting pretty rough for Jo to let herself be involved in those sorts of circumstances.
  - caribouchat
    
    Wow, thanks for the long answer. Well, take your time, I wouldn’t want anything bad happening to Jo (though I’m sure she would manage…)
Amaaré

When winning doesn’t really feel like winning.

I wonder what level of miracle the eye was going to offer.
- Aria
  
  Nothing good I’m sure. It’s usually not a great idea to hang around stuff like this for too long, they start to seem…enticing?
  
  (especially when you already happen to be greedy as hell)
  - Amaaré
    
    Deities can be sneaky little buggers like that.
Wereael

It appears that Raven is now his normal colors? Interesting
- Aria
  
  He is!
l33tninja

well…that was easy
- Aria
  
  Kidd Commander deus ex machinas actually provided by Real Organic Gods, more bang 4 ur buck
  - Amaaré
    
    Should that be…Stella Ex Machina?
Sandman366

…..the alt text confuses me….
- Aria
  
  That’s mostly for twitter folks haha. I’ve been posting art of Phin with that scar pretty much since I started the comic with no explanation of why it’s there.
  - Sandman366
    
    Oh.
    
    Now you see, that makes sense.
  - caribouchat
    
    Wondering: did the derelict eye leave a scar on purpose? Or was the moony-raven’s-weapon damage too important for them to “patch” without leaving a scar? Looks to me that someone able to repair a whole burned town wouldn’t need to leave a scar.
    I mean, besides the scar being real nice looking and useful comicwise…
    - Aria
      
      Honestly they SHOULD totally be able to heal that stuff up, but probably they either got lazy or petty and intentionally left the scar Raven’s scythe made.
      
      Like we talked about earlier, some wounds carry more spiritual weight than others and leave different kinds of marks. This particular cut was made by someone doing a lot of damage to Phin physically and emotionally at the same time, in a way that likely permanently altered her outlook on certain things. So this scar runs a lot deeper than the little cuts she had or even the damage that Spectre did without really meaning to.
      
      The star would have had to work slightly harder to fix it and didn’t feel like doing it, orrrr maybe they left it because they were miffed that she got out of this whole ordeal without a scratch. Hard to say.
  - gqbrielle
    
    I was gonna say something about that! I know I just assumed at least once it was from when Ulrich shot her, many moons…er…chapters…ago. I love this comic lol
Gaisa

Hmm, I noticed this before, but forgot to mention how Broken’s arms resemble Jocasta’s blackened arms
- Aria
  
  They do! Phineas imitates Jo a lot, maybe it rubbed off on brokenspectre too
Fancifulotato

hmmm i like them
Fancifulotato

the eye gives very strong fey trickstery vibes tho