The Letter Of Jael Bara 049
└ posted on Tuesday, 6 May 2014, by Novil
That rug really tied the room together.
- Lilith: Where, where am I?
- Sandril: In the secret hideout of the Shadowdancers.
- Lilith: The Shadowdancers? The thieves?
- Viviana: Yep!
- Viviana: We’ve stolen so many gems already, we said to ourselves: “This time, we’ll steal a wizard!”
- Viviana: Hello, Lilith. I’m Viviana.
- Lilith: Hello.
- Viviana: How are you?
- Lilith: I’m feeling a lot better already.
- Lilith: Sorry about your rug.
- Viviana: No worries. I’ll just steal a new one.
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I can’t think of a better line for Viv here.
Is it just me, or in panel 5 she’s standing in THIS spot?
@Apsik:
Strange, I wondered about that, too…
I think the intention of the drawing is that Sandril makes place for Viviana by standing up in 4
and moving back with the chair in 5. This position is a bit hard to draw because the perspective
is a bit difficult.
Well, we do not need to see the puddle, it is sufficient to know that it is there 🙂
Not the barf spot, since Lilith is glancing at it in panel 6, and Viviana isn’t standing in it.
Viviana now seems to be okay with the academy students all having their foot in their mouth when they first meet her…
@ TSK:
I need to see the puke, for reasons… =D
And thus meet our two great heroines. Let the real adventure begin!
Looking at Viviana’s body language, one would almost think that she was quite pleased with herself. 🙂
@Zai
I *wont* ask….
@Lucid
No, Lilith is *not* smitten with Viviana in 4. She’s for me simply
sheepish because of the unexpected turn of being rescued
by a well-known and notorious thief gang. Nothing to see here.
@All
I see no problem at all with Sandril at her bed. It was clear from the outset
that everyone involved in Liliths rescue did everything possible in *their
power*. Sandril could not do anything personally, not after the attempt to
attack Vernon at the court and his very prominent face *and* his known
relationship to Lilith. This was also the reason he was so grumpy because
he knew it, but did not like it at all.
Did I mention I hate shipping ?
Hee! I love the “steal a wizard” line. Viviana has definitely stolen Lilith’s place as my favorite character of the comic!
Though now that Lilith is back, Viv’s going to be suffering some competition for that… 😉
Scrutinizer wrote:
I can’t wait to watch how their relationship develops. Viviana is charismatic and tends to be a bit impulsive. Lilith is thoughtful and kind to others, and tends to be quiet and reserved. However, “meek” does not mean “weak”. She has shown herself to be strong and quick on the uptake more than once. And it was she who was inviting her friends to join her to face Bhaal in that premonition in the first chapter. There’s nothing weak about this young woman.
Viviana is the strong charismatic leader. Lilith is the strong quiet one. What their relationship develops into is going to be fun to watch.
@ TSK:
Actually, Sandril DID contribute to this. His money helped finance the purchase of materials used to smuggle materials into the jail and possibly some of what was used to build the robot and other devices to spring Lilith.
The people sent into the jail were professionals. The one non-professional was needed for the inside aspect of the job, and HIS job was getting a basic idea of the lay of the land, and getting the materials into the jail and into position.
Sandril would not have been able to be a hero in the jail. It would have gotten him and Lilith killed. But he WAS able to finance this rescue and he has remained loyal to Lilith the entire time. While I disliked him at the start due to his snobbishness and the “competition” factor for Lilith, I think he’s shown his mettle and that he cares a lot for Lilith. Shippers to the contrary need not apply.
I didn’t expect them to get off this well together….I wonder when Viviana will explain what Lilith owes her…
“Oh yeah, before you can leave, your friends said you were good for cracking an unopenable box…Better get started!”
Not that I don’t approve of giving Lili and Vivi some time to meet each other, I am wondering where Ilias is. Even if he did almost nothing in the plans themselves, he did go and set up the mission just for her sake. I know we’ll probably get an answer soon, but where is he?
TSK wrote:
I have to agree and disagree at the same time. I see Lilith looking square into Viviana’s eye and returning her firm handshake. She’s smiling at the person who helped rescue her, but she is in no way intimidated by her.
I think you have the situation pegged.
Don’t worry. We won’t hold it against you. 🙂
@Tangentsreviews
Yes, all correct. His money was able to get the necessary
ingredients, but I think he was still upset that he could not
do more.
Perhaps another factor about his crabbiness was his
disgust about his shallow family (partying etc.) and
the still unatoned crime to his comrades.
@ TSK:
Heh. I’d intended to quote you and got Reply instead. 😉 I was agreeing with you for the most part, thus my argument about his use of resources. It’s like asking why a millionaire didn’t operate on a poor sick person when instead he paid for a doctor with the ability to do the job.
As for shipping… there’s nothing wrong with shipping so long as you don’t let your headcanon get in the way of the real canon. People shipping Lilith and Viv are amusing enough. It’s when they insist it HAS to happen that they become too big for their britches.
Sammieo wrote:
Well, since Ilias is the only one of the friends that we we’ve seen (until the last page) that has access to ShadowKeep and can pretty much come and go as he pleases, I would expect him to show up sooner or later.
In the meantime, I am sure he is letting Sandril have his quiet time with her. He is respecting Sandril’s and Lilith’s relationship. Three’s a crowd, as they say.
I mean, you can’t have them both holding one of Lilith’s hands, you know. That would be a bit awkward.
@PMark
Hmm, the drawing for both panel 4 and 7 indicate reddening and
“bashfulness drops”. Perhaps the wrong word: sheepish,
abashed, bashful ?
Shipping and all forms of speculation are what makes fandom fun. It was immense fun speculating on whether or not Viviana was of Royal blood or not. Now it’s fun speculating as to who ends up with whom.
It’s only when the speculators and shippers become obnoxious about it that it loses its enjoyment. Luckily, Gaia seems to be relatively free from those sorts of trolls — at least so far.
“dont worry, i’ll just steal a new one”
I so wish i could use that line more often in Real Life at times…
TSK wrote:
Well in panel 7, she is genuinely embarrassed about the rug. That is just Lilith being Lilith. She is thoughtful and considerate to a fault. Consider LJB23 when she used up valuable time and energy driving the warden back from the hole before he got cut in two. You could say that that compassionate act alone like doomed her escape attempt. Those loud booms had to attract the attention of every guard in the place, and the energy expended had to contribute to her becoming spellsick. It would have cost her her life if the Shadowdancers and Ryn had not intervened.
And here she is. She couldn’t help throwing up, yet the first time she meets Viviana she’s concerned about the rug she’s responsible for soiling. Since it’s Viviana’s room, it’s likely a very expensive rug.
As to panel 4, I’d say she was still unsure of what is happening. She hasn’t figured out exactly what she owes these people, or how she ended up where she was. But, as I said, she looking Viviana square in the eye. She’s sizing her up, just as Viviana is likely doing the same with her.
So casual about it. It’s almost unnerving.
@ PMark:
Lilith is also quite embarrassed about having called the Shadowdancers thieves – and Viviana makes quite clear that she heard that., and that the Shadowdancers really rescued her.
Sandril’s thought balloon in the last panel: I’m so glad that wasn’t my lap she threw up into!
Sandril hasn’t looked visibly upset in almost, like, four updates
That has to be some kind of record
@ AmbiValent:
Ah, that’s the reason she blushed. Missed that, thanks.
life’s good when you’re a high caliber thief
I can’t believe some people are SO against Livi that they have to pre-emptively state something. Jael can steal anything, even a heart!
As for Lili, she may not be “instantly smitten”(that’s not her style anyway), but she did blush a lot! Viva La Livi!
Anywho, the fun part is next episode, where they’ll inevitably discuss “So, here’s our plan for getting you home…” Which involves opening the box, opening the door the door, and unseating the corrupt government of cania to clear Lili’s name.
Other fun things to expect:
Bhaalers: Still in secrecy.
Eldor: Pleased. His touched one did something new and magnificent.
Delvor: Pleased. The “traitor” again clearly had outside help, the attack on the prison proves WAR MUST BE USED TO PROTECT US!
Olrik: Concerned. His advisors are quarreling again, and making secret edicts to fight eachother!
Dragons: Their council meeting should be interesting, particularly considering they’ll know Llil has powerful, scary new magics.
Giant Robot: Still not a thing. Yet. Holding out hope.
Bhaal: Still sleeping.
Midgard: Seriously wondering WTF cania keeps going on about. Stolen wizard? Crazed thieves? War? WHY DO YOU KEEP BLAMING US?
Academy: Terrified. Lili was swiped, Ryn is implicated, even the least competent of all investigations will tie their students to the breakout. It’s unlikely this will lead to anything pleasant for them.
Salacea: Disturbed. Vivi just went from eccentric thief to major warlord in under a month. Ileasaar may be free soon, but it’s unlikely she’ll keep the power she has now.
Ileasaar: Terrified. Eldor’s charges against them are certain to increase with any examination of the robot–it will clearly sport shadow dancer trademarks. Oppression to keep the rebellion in check will likely increase(despite the fact that’s usually the best way to incite rebellion).
San: Should be avenging against the Osterath by now.
Students: Nervous. Now that they’ve all had a hand in breaking out Lili, it’s going to be hard to keep the pieces from being put together, and a heavy cloud of suspicion was on them before they did anything.
Ars: Ars will be dead.
Apparently she missed the basin…
But she’s alive. Alive is good.
This is going pretty well. I see Viviana can’t resist teasing Lilith a bit, but I don’t think she took the “thieves” thing personally (surely by now she knows better).
Tangentsreviews wrote:
Viviana’s had a lot more screentime to show her good side in, afterall. I don’t think either of them should try pushing each other out of first place, though. Instead they should just be a pair of leading ladies, and we can all accept how great both of them are.
PS: Tangent, have you found a new site to do reviews on, or have you stopped? I don’t mean to pressure you, I’d just like to know your status, since the last review on your livejournal was in January.
AmbiValent wrote:
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
We have a wiener.
Wanderer wrote:
Tangents Reviews is slowly being rebuilt at http://www.tangentsreviews.com but I’m holding off on new reviews ’til I get things working to my satisfaction. And get back reviews up – for instance, before I review Gaia again, I’ll make sure every previous review of it is on my system.
Mostly it’s procrastination on my part and Elder Scrolls Online. ^^;; Well that and I had some problems with Comic Easel (concerning Chapters) and am trying to figure it out. If I end up abandoning CE, then all the reviews I loaded with it are lost. Thus my procrastination.
Tangentsreviews wrote:
Just erase the text, scroll back up, and hit the correct one next time.
Also, watch this… Replying to two at once.
PMark wrote:
Personally, I figure they took turns until she woke up. There are three of them who care enough for her to spend 8 hours at a time by her bedside. I’m including her roommate in that count.
(and no, I’m not shipping them.)
TSK wrote:
Well, she DID just vomit on the other girls floor. As for panel 4, I think that’s more youthful glow than a blush.
However, I may need to reconsider my opinion in light of the crooked word bubble. Probably shy, and realizing she’s stepped in it with the “thieves” comment in earshot.
Lucid wrote:
Actually, this may be catastrophic for Delvor. He pressed for war against Midgard, claiming them to be responsible for the attack on the academy, but Eldor suggested Ileasaar may be the ones involved instead. If Lilith’s rescuers are correctly identified as the Shadowdancers, Delvor will look like a fool in front of the king. His plans can go good-buy and he looses a lot of political influence to Eldor.
You know what this room needs? It needs that painting Viviana took from Alissa’s home back in Shadowdancers 056. It would have been an interesting conversation topic, at least.
The answer Viviana on the last panel is gold! ^^
PMark wrote:
It’s not every day you get to successfully steal a wizard.
Lucid wrote:
I’m more surprised that your surprised that someone is against your ship that they would do a pre emptive strike on you. When protecting a ship there are two ways to defend it one by gathering evidence to support your ship and two try to destroy other’s ship. Though I do wish you would cool it a little with the Livi myself, the yuri ship and your desire to predict more action when some of the action seems less then likely to happen is getting a little annoying. I feel like I should introduce you to RWBY, there are a lot of yuri ships to chose from in that universe and lot of action happening.
Oh, and I really think Olrik is to oblivious to notice his councillors fighting even if they fought straight under his nose.
Best Online comic I’ve read so far.
And I do like the comment threads with lots of great plot discussions.
But please shippers!
Stop shipping stupid end ups. Viviana just met Lilith, why on Earth would they end up together? Because you guys think so?
Are you aware that you just objectify them? That you just use them to embody your own fantasy? (yes I don know they are
fictional characters, but I hope you catch my drift…)
I’m not against homosexual relationships per se, but there is no indication at the moment for them ending up as a couple,
maybe there will be later, but now it’s just your own deisires.
And why oh why does every relation or affection have to have a sexual nature. isn’t friendship beautiful enough?
Also why do things have to end happy for everyone? A sad ending isn’t equal a bad ending, best example of that is
Dr. Horrible (check it out if you yet haven’t done so)
I myself have great confidence in Novil en Powree, don’t let any shipper (of any kind or direction) mess with your story,
or else it will be a flawed one.
(That aside, I do enjoy speculation built on keen observation and witty remarks, please continue with that people.)
Pikadusk wrote:
Hey don’t go dishing RWBY. That is the ONLY anime I watch.
True, there is a lot of action, but that goes with being an anime about a warrior academy.
There is a heck of a lot of character growth in RWBY, (though I admit not enough to satisfy me).
Liking Livi is not “objectifying”. If you analyze the personalities of each character, Lilith and Viviana are the most-compatible. They’re both playful, magically adept people with a can-do attitude,a friendly disposition, encouraging to those around them, and very self-conscious of their mistakes. They have more in common than any other characters, with perhaps the exception of Eldor and Delvor. It’s not a “fantasy”, it’s “if these people were my friends, I’d set them up on a date.” Not everyone’s some weirdo pervert with a cartoon sex fetish.
So far as Delvor being unhappy, it depends on how skillful he is. If he can press the “it’s midgard” agenda before the investigation gets anywhere(there’s tons of witnesses that SOMEONE helped her, but not who), or if he has more manufactured evidence, it would be very easy for him to capitalize on. He’s apparently been a scheming slimeball for over a decade, so I wouldn’t count him out just yet.
Also, as a plot device, having Delvor booted from power for this would immediately end the Shadowdancer’s quest–if he becomes just a nobody(or worse, in prison), there’s no reason they’d want to prove his crimes, and no way collapse the government around him. They might end up helping him, even, in that scenario, but his body count is a tad high for that. It seems more-likely that he’d overthrow the king in a self-defense move. Eldor is more about his Bhaaler agenda than mere political power.
I can even imagine it going so far as Delvor overthrowing the king, only to have Eldor overthrow him in turn. I don’t think a seasoned pro like him will miss the huge opportunity he has at this moment, though.
One question I must wonder now: Why, when the two most compatible characters are suggested as love interests, someone declares to go look for porn elsewhere, but when two completely incompatible characters are suggested as love interests, those who aren’t totally on the band wagon don’t bat an eyelash?
@ Lucid:
Oh, you’re that kind of person. Playing God and interfering in others life and interests even tough nobody asked you to…
That’s more anoying than a perv. 😉
So you’re saying that the only vital thing in a romantic (sexual?) relationship is to share the same qualities? For starters that is dead boring, and what about opposites attract? And most importantly you seem to forget one vital fact: Neither of them have up to this last update meat each other yet and hence haven’t got the chance to feel any affection yet, even less any affection development.
I suppose that no one in their right mind have this thoughts when they are in a situation as this. Do you get attracted to people in sickbed, or the opposite, would your possible love interest be the first thing in your head after waking up from a faint of exhaustion and the first thing you do is throwing up, and then realise that you’re not actually dead. Especilly a stranger. Lilith seems genuinly happy that Sandril is by her side. I would also prefer a familiar face rather than a stangers regardless of how attractive I would find him/her in a normal situation. I suppose you would a well?
Even if you’re right about matching, they don’t know each other as you know of them, and it isn’t guaranteed that they will, they might get the wrong impression of each other or something like that. What I meant with objectifying was that you (and other shippers?) reduce these characters to vessels of your own will/desire.
Even if they are just fictional they are real inside of the story. And in the story they should be left to make their own choices. I know that this might sound weird, and I do know that the autor decides for them. But the author does not just decide from free will but have to consider the nature/personality of his (or hers) creations.
I’m not saying that LiVi is impossible, just that nothing at the moment points in that direction. And I don’t get why you are shipping them, even if I am trying to understand.
If matching personalities was the only cruical aspect, dating sites would go out of business. That’s much more to love than matching personalities.
And besides i disagree, they are not such a perfect match up as you conceive them to be, I don’t think you really get the motivational grounds of any of them.
And again. What’s wrong with friendship? Does every relation of value have to be a romantic one. Personally I really appreciate Ilias and Alissas reletion development during their endeavor to get in touch with the shadow dancers, for example.
I’m not expecting you to agree with me, but I hope you will try to see my point, I’m trying to see your. Cheerio!
One extra awesome frosting on the cake that is the Gaia webcomics is the well-informed and well-thought comments that’s fun to read. An absolute rarity on the Internet.
The insistence on shipping Lilith and Viviana from a noisy minority and the subsequent distraction is kind of ruining the frosting. If this keeps up, I might just have the delicious cake without the frosting.
Bah, all this talk of shipping when there’s a perfectly good opportunity for a Vivana/Lilith/Sandril sandwich right there.
It comes with a free drink of salty-Ilias-tears! Can’t get a better deal than that!
For a free Ileasaar wrote:
Yes, that was fun. Now that Lilith is out of prison and the rest of the adventure is about to begin, we should see more of these little relationship building adventures in the future.
Right now Viviana’s situation in life is entirely different from the five friends. She is the leader of the Shadowdancers. She has duties, responsibilities, and tasks that keep her busy and apart from the five friends. Unless the Shadowdancers are disbanded and the Ileasaari resistant movement totally destroyed, I don’t see her spending enough time in the near future to become romantically involved with any of them. She will be friends with them, especially Lilith, but friendship is all she is going to have time for in the foreseeable future.
Okay, enough with the shipping. What’s next?
• Attempting to open the box: This is the next thing up. Lilith is going to try to open the box. If she can, then its contents will lead to the next adventure. If she cannot, obtaining the necessary equipment and/or knowledge will lead to the next adventure.
• Rescuing Ryn: It’s possible that Ryn didn’t get away. The prison was under lock-down, and he couldn’t get out before the guard he gassed woke up. So that could be their next adventure. However, since we’ve already done a prison escape, I doubt Novil is going to take a second bite of that apple. Been there, done that.
• Contacting Faye: Somehow or the other they need to hook up with Faye so that they can find out what the dragons have been up to.
• Helping Arty Jannon in Heyselfall: One of the founders of the Shadowdancers is living in Heyselfall working on “… a completely new kind of protective shield” (TS-27). Lilith is a shield specialist. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
• Visiting Lilith’s Parents: Lilith is a very thoughtful, considerate, compassionate person. Sooner or later she is going to want to contact her parents. And what will be their fate following the prison-break?
• On their own: Viviana made it plain clear back in SD-64 that once Lilith opens the box, the problems of the five friends will no longer be of any concern of hers. Does she just kick them out to fend for themselves after the box is opened? After, unless they join her little band of miscreants, they really aren’t that much use to her in her day-to-day business. I don’t see Sandril, Alissa, Ilias, and Lilith joining a thieves guild. Ryn, maybe, but not the rest of them.
Of course joining the official Ileasaari resistance movement is a different thing, but even here I’m not sure that Sandril or Alissa would be eager to do that. They are part of the Canian aristocracy.
• Having a little talk with Vernon: That little rat perjured himself to get Lilith convicted. They are going to want to know details, and Sandril will want to see that Vernon regrets being so foolish.
@Lucid
No, they are not against Livi, but they do not like ship.
You mentioned them as possible pair before they even met.
So the panel where they met the first time we have to assume the worst and….
@PMark:
I am confident that she will open the box, but not as fast as Viviana wishes.
Agreement. I think Viviana has taken this into consideration.
I have an inkling that the situation gets now out of control pretty fast so that understandably the parents are getting uninteresting.
O-(-‘.’Q) wrote:
It’s already there. Look at the previous page.
Viviana is awesomness. “Don’t worry, I’ll just steal a new one” Quick with the wit, but friendly and ever so likeable.