- Iona: But isn’t she happy that there’s enough food again?
- Tibor: She lost her boyfriend during the famine. He was her one and only.
- Iona: Oh no…
- Vreni: Should we visit Scarlet and try to cheer her up?
- Baako: Yeah, let’s! I’ll get some games!
- Vreni: What kind of game do you think she’d enjoy?
- Tibor: The most complex one you have.
- Baako: Really?
- Tibor: Yes, she loves mental challenges.
- Iona: Tell us more about her.
- Tibor: Scarlet, I met a bunch of nice kids who need another person for their game. May they come in?
- Scarlet: What?! No! I don’t want to play any stupid board games.
- Tibor: But I already told them that you’re going to join in.
- Scarlet: Urghs… goddamn!
Machine Girl 006
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25 thoughts on “Machine Girl 006”
LDVSoft
Reading books! Better?..
Sekhmet
Better than staying in bed anyway.
I hope they have a really complex board game :).
Graybeard
This is odd. Swiss-American psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross developed a widely-recognized model for the stages of grief — a subject with which, I’m sad to say, I’ve become more familiar in the last couple of years than I ever wanted to — that goes as:
Stage 1: Denial
Stage 2: Anger
Stage 3: Bargaining
Stage 4: Depression
Stage 5: Acceptance
This isn’t absolute by any means (and hoo boy, am I getting tired of Stage 4), but Scarlet seems to have stages 2 and 4 switched around.
Hegel-Marx
In fact, dr. Larisa Korolev changed the fifth stage to “more anger”. 😉
https://www.sandraandwoo.com/2019/09/02/1111-the-five-stages-of-dealing-with-internet-trolls/
Vicious Sand
“That I accept it does not mean I accept it peacefully, or willingly.”
djezspread
The stages aren’t really meant to be sequential and within an individual may proceed in any order or omit any stage.
Jude
Very true. People are very complex and our reactions, consciously or subconsciously, are often shaped by past experiences extending into our very early childhood. I’ve a close friend who lost her husband. They were still sweethearts though their two girls were in their late teens. She basically skipped the anger stage and although it’s been 10 years since he died and she accepts her life, depression continues to rear its ugly head. I think too that someone whom you love is dying but slowly, the grieving process starts to happen then. It’s very different from losing someone you love quickly and unexpectedly.
ToBeFree
Treating these stages as a playbook is a common misunderstanding even if you, possibly influenced by knowing about them and misinterpreting them, happen to have experienced them in the allegedly fixed order.
Graybeard
Actually, I rather more than “know about” them and have not been experiencing them myself in strict order. EK-R intended the stages as a useful guide rather than an ironclad law. It still seems odd to me that Scarlet is only now getting to the anger part.
'phoon
Is that Tibor asserting himself over Scarlet? She is even worse off than I thought.
Poyntre
The best sign is she hopping mad again because of a trifle.
Mark
More food because less people?
Crystalgate
More food because of better harvest. The lasting winter was a one year phenomena only, although eventually that will be the norm if Lavael continues to get colder. There are less people as well though.
Midgard
> Baako: Yeah, let’s! I’ll get some games!
A peek into how Novil writes the dialogue including layout hints 😀
Hegel-Marx
It should be kept in mind that, I assume, the original is written in German.
Midgard
I mean
> Baako: Yeah, let’s! <tube> I’ll get some games!
The angle brackets tag was stripped.
ME
I don’t understand this comment. What do you think is wrong is missing with the dialog? Native English speaker here.
Midgard
Nothing’s wrong, I was remarking that “<tube>”, presumably to indicate the layout when passing the page’s instructions to Elli, had made it into the transcript, but Novil has removed it since! And in my first comment the angle brackets had been stripped by the website software, so now I know to type it as <tube>
MegaJar
Lavarel teens, on hearing that a complete stranger is depressed: “Oh no! What can we do to help? Let’s go cheer her up!”
Earth teens, on hearing that a complete stranger is depressed: “…Meh.” *goes back to texting*
HKMaly
Those teens got through crisis. They know firsthand how cheering someone up can help. Besides, I think they also want to expand their social circle and use this opportunity to make her not a stranger.
Minor mistake
G#dd#mn? Is there some religion here? Did she read a book about religion?
'phoon
The German version just uses ‘verdammt’, no mention of god. The same happened with Leyton Wayt earlier, not sure if that is deliberate.
Hegel-Marx
A short explanation about religion in Lavarel is on https://www.sandraandwoo.com/scarlet/setting/#religion
There is no organized religion. There is no idea of life after death. There is no hope of salvation. But there are some ideas about gods and the fate of man. There are certainly variations, probably self-proclaimed prophets, and perhaps even cults.
I wrote a long time ago that Scarlet could actually start a new religion. In a world sinking into ruin, people crave hope and might believe that one girl will bring salvation. She will probably need collaborators and followers to fulfill her mission.
(By the way, I am an atheist, but I often say “By God!” – I prefer “By Goddess!” – or “Goddammit!”. Cultural conditioning.)
HKMaly
Scarlet has pretty good chance to start a new religion even without meaning to.
Cultural conditioning works only when someone ELSE around is in religion. Not necessarily close; religious phrase originating in religion person can go over multiple atheists to reach you. But on Lavarel, the idea that gods abandoned them is probably universal.
On the other hand, idea that gods abandoned them kinda SUPPORTS phrases like “goddamn”.
(Also, Pagan who works hard to get “Jesus” from his vocabulary. Cultural conditioning indeed.)
ME
Sure sign that Scarlet is at least progressing. She’s temporarily back to normally petulant teenager.
“Daaaaaaaaaaaaad!”
Poll
Characters
Ariana Carolus Athamas Baako Bolin Cyril Evelina Ferrus Gale Nenawa Gavin Carolus Iona Jehona Shardyk Julius Mirkning Kala Silverspring King Protos Lauro Levon Goldwood Leyton Wayt Luitpold Marik Marton Princess Elodie Raymond Reto Mirkning Reva Scarlet Carolus Silvana Mirkning Tibor Frey Viola Vreni Yerim Zach Ilkin