I love the drawings of Scarlet in panels 4 and 6.
- Scarlet: Hello, Vreni.
- Vreni: Hello, Scarlet. I brought you something!
- Scarlet: Which would be?
- Vreni: Double-glazed and fried firebeet slices. Based on a recipe from my grandmother.
- Vreni: They’re really good.
- Vreni: What do you think?
- Scarlet: That’s… That’s the first time in my life I’ve eaten something that tastes good.
- Scarlet: Thank you so much!
Machine Girl 010
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29 thoughts on “Machine Girl 010”
Hegel-Marx
Awww! 💕
xellos
First time since the start of the comic? Otherwise it’s quite a burn @ her mum.
SadBeaver
And Tibor too. But I think that means the good spices or condiments are too rare or expensive. and most people just don’t care. Looks like Baako had to walk quite far to buy those ingredients.
'phoon
Don’t forget time consuming. From the previous comic I’d guess she processed half a fire beet. This is more like a hand made belgian praline then a farmers dinner.
Tibor and Scarlets mom had other things to do then stand in the kitchen all day even if they could get the ingredients.
Crystalgate
It’s the standard rather than the exception in Lavael that food doesn’t taste good. I don’t think hearing that your food is bland is much of a burn in that world.
Manabi
It’s due to the planet’s cooling, from the setting page:
“There are only two major crops left that can be eaten by the humanoid races and other animals, bloomrabi and firebeets. They provide all the nutrients needed to survive. Of course, food consumption isn’t exactly fun with such a limited choice of product. Some other plants are also edible, but they can’t be cultivated in large enough numbers or are toxic when eaten in larger quantities.”
The other edible plants that can’t be grown in large amounts probably includes herbs, so seasonings would be unavailable to most people.
Freezer
Welp… Vreni’s doomed.
MegaJar
Aww, THERE’S that smile! Been far too long since Scarlet had a real reason to be happy!
GluboCrappo
The character isn’t on this page, but is Iona male or female? The name sounds feminine, but by appearance I’m leaning toward male. I think it’s the hair that’s throwing me off.
Zarylo
By appearance and behaviour alone I would wager Iona is female.
Novil
Female.
BYM!
Those characters have been added to the character list! I didn’t know until this panel that Vreni is female, though I also wasn’t paying a huge amount of attention.
SadBeaver
What she says now means she didn’t like the meat she ate in SFoS 083. Or maybe it was because of feeling sorry for the animal.
Werwolfe
Eh, this would’ve worked better with looser foreshadowing. As a continuation of “burnt soap” it’s heartwarming, but having her ~literally repeat the same verbiage back in the museum scene takes a bit of zing out of it now.
Vicious Sand
Potato chips can save the world. I wonder how much work it was to make those beet slices. Yes, we all saw the page, but a montage of buttering bread is not the same as a montage of making a wedding cake. With enough work almost anything can be edible, but that’s ignoring time management in favour of the goal. If it was glazed, then what was it glazed in? At least Scarlet’s found some good food, she just has to get the recipe. Or is Vreni cornering the market? “Nothing says I’m your friend like being the sole supplier of doughnuts.”
If you make fire beet ice cream, can it still catch on fire?
gabrek
How does she know everything she’s been eating before was bad without ever having eaten anything good before?
CE
My parents sucked at seasoning their meat, so often when we ate food with meat, the very outside was okay-ish but everything on the inside was plain and nothing good at all. Or it would be burned to the point of being crunchy. Over time i lost all interest in eating any meat, cuz it simply wasnt good. Then one day i ate at someones bbq, and they had prepared the meat a day beforehand and it was fully seasoned. That was the first time i ate actually good meat, and i loved it.
I hope that places it in context, that food can lose all appeal if its bad, and that you dont need to have had good food for this to happen.
Manabi
How did any of us learn that food taste good? We ate it, it activated our taste buds in wonderful ways and we knew it tasted good. It’s one of the innate skills humans are born with.
Sekhmet
Maybe the only thing that tasted good in her mind was her mother’s milk.
In a world where food is scarce, people tend to breastfeed as long as possible (because it is a reliable and safe source of food, and usually the mother can handle a temporary lack of food when the kid is more fragile).
Breastfeeding 3, 4 or even 5 years is not exceptional, even today, even in modern countries (although not common). And children sometimes remember the taste of their mother’s milk. Or at least, the feeling of eating something really good (and comforting).
BYM!
I feel like it’s not literal, she has a disconnect with her memories from before Julius’ death and feels like nothing from those memories is pleasant anymore. But that she’s making new memories that can be pleasant is good!
ToBeFree
Aww. 🥰
Crystalgate
The animal they ate should have tasted at least somewhat good, but maybe she isn’t too fond of meat?
Hegel-Marx
Eating meat is certainly very rare. On SFOS 046 Scarlet asks Julius if he has ever eaten meat, he says “no”. Scarlet continues: „I read that there are so few animals left that even most wolf tribes don’t bother to hunt them anymore.“
Sekhmet
From what I remember from this animal, it was probably tough meat. And since they were lacking a proper kitchen, techniques to prepare meat, and herbs to accommodate it properly, I guess it would not have been very tasty.
Imagine yourself lost in the wild, killing a fox or a similar animal and having just a knife to prepare it and a fire to cook it… not the best meat, definitely.
Novil
Correct.
Crystalgate
Makes sense. There are a lot of meat that are good without needing seasoning, but I realize now that most of them requires the use of certain cooking technique, which Scarlet and Tibor would not have access to, and are also often carefully cut to have the right muscle/fat/anything else ratio.
Shadow Threat
I’m glad there’s finally a smile on Scarlet’s face, she’s been through so much – she deserves a smile. 🙂
Puyon
In a world where the food situation sucks so hard, the emotional healing power of food must be so unfamiliar and overwhelming. Scarlet finally experiencing food that can be enjoyed just touches my heart. I’ve been there before, kiddo.
This might just be my favorite page in the comic so far because it hits so hard emotionally. Finally, we see Scarlet’s bright eyes and wonderful smile again.
Graybeard
This page makes it look as though Vrerni is somewhat older than Scarlet — face shape, height (I’d been noticing this one in previous pages but it’s very clear here), figure. Wonder what the significance of that is?
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