[2995] "HOW DARE THEY?!"

[imaginaryfriend]

Okay. I think it's starting to sink in now.

[arf]

"SPEAK HER NAME!?"

[yellowb]

Like blahzor said in another thread, the fairies could just name themselves. Or Antimony and Renard could name them. Would that give them enough of an energy boost so they could come out of the ether?

Edit: And leave the court too?

[peachpie]

Sept 16, 2024 20:25:22 GMT peachpie said:

Ah. Bugsy believes in the meritocracy.

Oh, let me rephrase, I guess:
Aaaaah! Bugsy believes in the meritocracy!!

[aggadahGothic]

Bugsy: redeemed.

I truly expected this chapter to affirm that Antimony and Kat have no one's support but the new people's, but perhaps Red and Ayilu will return as members of a Forest Creatures Liberation Front.

[Geekette]

That really starts to make the fairies seem more like FAIRIES again, doesn't it? In the stories, fairies are all about deals and tricks. But they don't lie. Its a game, but if you win you actually win. The idea that humans might change the rules - depending on the fairy story, either its not fair because you're not allowed to lie, or its not fair because only fairies are meant to hide part of the rules.

Also; now I think about it. Have we ever met any other adult fairies other than Bugsey? Maybe this isn't new. Maybe there's always been a portion of the Foley students that just burn out, and its actually just a question of what's the percentage that makes it.

[arkadi]

Never mind, she's just really, REALLY thick -_-

[stef1987]

Sept 18, 2024 10:31:39 GMT arkadi said:

Never mind, she's just really, REALLY thick -_-

I think you mean dense?
But yeah she's also thicc

[davidm]

if Omega shows up and gives dead fairy a name and a shiny award trinket for dying on duty, will they all be Yippee and eager to get drained to death as well?

[pyradonis]

Looks like Bugsy has her "Bison is...a bad guy?" moment.

Sept 18, 2024 9:33:20 GMT Geekette said:

Also; now I think about it. Have we ever met any other adult fairies other than Bugsey?

Red and Ayilu might count, having names and being finished with school as a consequence. At least in the eyes of fellow Foleys. Apart from them though, the only one I can think of that was at least mention would be the teacher Shadow mentioned, who used to be a bear.

[Corvo]

It's kind of amazing how the name thing hits her harder than the girl's death. I'm guessing either Bugsy still doesn't grasp the whole "death" thing or "being dead" is just no big deal to these guys.

[morrahadesigns]

Are we going to see an enraged fae rampage?! I want to see an enraged fae rampage!!!

[Nika]

It seems like she doesn't really understand death, interesting.

[Igniz]

Sept 18, 2024 12:32:35 GMT pyradonis said:

Looks like Bugsy has her "Bison is...a bad guy?" moment.

[ctso74]

From the many stories, trying to understand Fae priorities is a fool's errand. It may similar to the Forest/Court fairies.

[Gemini Jim]

Glad to see that she's finally starting to get it.

Although it is a little worrying that the thing that she's really upset about is the name.

Maybe it's just mental displacement, maybe her brain can't handle the idea of one of her students literally working herself to death.

(Or, like Arthur Dent's reaction to the Earth being destroyed: "McDonald's, he thought. There is no longer any such thing as a McDonald's hamburger. He passed out.")

But at least she's moved from denial to anger, even if it's completely misdirected. We just need to aim that anger in the right direction.

[guntherkrieg]

Annie bootstraps Bugsy to rudimentary empathy.

[Gemminie]

Annie has just tried to explain to Bugsy that the dead student has been drained of her life energy, and Bugsy's responded with a very meh response; we all made this deal, I got mine, so it's not my problem. We had thought that Bugsy was responding like a rich human might when shown the problems that poor people have.

But on this page, Annie doesn't give up. She stops using phrases like "drained of her life energy" and goes for the more direct "dead." And, possibly unintentionally, she finds the key, mentioning that she'll never have the name the Court promised all the Foley students in exchange for their services. This appears to be incredibly upsetting to Bugsy. At first she seems shocked, as if she had never before realized that this could happen – not death, but the Court breaking its deal. It takes a while for her to process this. Then the fury starts to kick in, and we see a tear forming in her eye. Then, we see everyone else, who is outside the room, as they hear Bugsy shout in rage.

First of all, perhaps this has to do with the whole bargain the Court made with the Forest and/or the regional fairies, which we know very little about. Apparently the "hollow fairies" (this term itself implies that there are fairies that aren't like this) are born with their souls/spirits/whatever already stored in totems, but we don't know why, other than Coyote's "The Court wants what it wants" statement. Perhaps, then, this is part of some sort of bargain the Court made with them long ago. In return for this, those fairies would be given names. And, as far as we know, no hollow fairy has ever died after being transferred into a human body but before receiving a name since this bargain was made, or at least, not when the Court was at fault. Because in many stories, breaking a fairy bargain is a very, very bad thing to do. The Court may find that the entire deal is off.

What would that mean? Well, all the former Forest denizens would no longer be drained, for one thing. There may be retribution, for another, depending on how the agreement was made, and we know very little about it. I wouldn't be surprised to find that the Arbiter or his minions were involved. Or maybe there are other Arbiters, who knows? It was probably an ethereal contract of some sort. The exit clause may have just been invoked. Or it may be less formal, and the former Forest denizens may just yank their Ether back. That nice steady flow of Ether to the star ocean may be about to reverse direction. But then, lots is coming from Zimmy/Coyote now so it may not have a large net effect.

Well, all of this is speculation. We'll have to wait and see what the Wrath of Bugsy looks like.

[crater]

Is this Zimmy coming to terms with her inevitable death bonk?

[manabi]

Sept 18, 2024 7:06:48 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

Okay. I think it's starting to sink in now.

Bugsy's not uncaring, she's just... well there's no polite way to put it, she's an idiot.  I'm glad Annie found a way to get Bugsy to understand how serious things are.

Perhaps Annie & company should just give all the kids names right now.  That might help get them to willingly leave the Ether and stop being drained.

Sept 18, 2024 12:42:14 GMT Corvo said:

It's kind of amazing how the name thing hits her harder than the girl's death. I'm guessing either Bugsy still doesn't grasp the whole "death" thing or "being dead" is just no big deal to these guys.

It could be they don't really grasp that death in human form is permanent, since dying in their fairy form was only temporary.  That would be true for all the forest creatures really.  And remember that Red was so clueless that after learning her hair could be cut she was going to cut off a finger until Annie & Kat stopped her.  I think it's safe to say the court does nothing to teach them the common sense that normal humans have, seeing them solely as a source of labor and Etheric energy.

[sebastian]

Sept 18, 2024 12:42:14 GMT Corvo said:

It's kind of amazing how the name thing hits her harder than the girl's death. I'm guessing either Bugsy still doesn't grasp the whole "death" thing or "being dead" is just no big deal to these guys.

If you remember the first time Antimony meet Red, Death is not a big deal for faires.
You must not forget, they are not humans. Even if they look like one, they don't think like one.

case in point

[exquisitecorpus]

What's in a name? Why is it so valuable to the fairies?

In many fairy tales and folklore around the world, names are binding. Names are almost contractual. To give your name to another entity is to capitulate your soul to them, to surrender yourself completely to their power. I get the sense Tom is hinting at some sort of power inherent in a name. The ability to leave a mark on the Ether after death? The ability to claim some sort of dominion over the world? The ability to claim ownership over objects? Personhood?

And why am I reminded of the Arbiter?

[Sky Schemer]

#BugsyRedeemed

And I can't wait to see what Vengeful Bugsy is capable of.

[Polyhymnia]

Sept 18, 2024 12:05:45 GMT stef1987 said:

Sept 18, 2024 10:31:39 GMT arkadi said:

Never mind, she's just really, REALLY thick -_-

I think you mean dense?
But yeah she's also thicc

Thick can mean the same thing as dense; they can both mean (as Merriam Webster puts it) “obtuse, stupid”
(The example sentence given was “too thick to understand).

I tend to associate thick more with the UK, but it’s wide enough in usage that it doesn’t get a geographical flag in the aforementioned dictionary.

[Runningflame]

So, is it possible to name someone posthumously?

[arf]

Sept 18, 2024 23:00:55 GMT Polyhymnia said:

Sept 18, 2024 12:05:45 GMT stef1987 said:

I think you mean dense?
But yeah she's also thicc

Thick can mean the same thing as dense; they can both mean (as Merriam Webster puts it) “obtuse, stupid”
(The example sentence given was “too thick to understand).

I tend to associate thick more with the UK, but it’s wide enough in usage that it doesn’t get a geographical flag in the aforementioned dictionary.

"Thick as a brick" is a common English expression of idiocy (along with "dim as ditchwater", although the former is also a Jethro Tull album)

[imaginaryfriend]

Leo the AI says: A "double entendre" is a phrase that can be interpreted in two ways. It often has a literal meaning and a second, often humorous or vulgar, meaning. For example, the phrase "he's a loose cannon" can mean both that he's unpredictable and that he's prone to causing trouble. It's a way of including a secondary meaning that may not be immediately apparent, often for comedic or rhetorical effect.

Thus, Bugsy is thick (being ill-informed or foolish) while at the same time she is thick or THICC (an alternate spelling of thick meaning blessed with voluptuous peaks and valleys).

Sept 19, 2024 1:25:14 GMT Runningflame said:

So, is it possible to name someone posthumously?

I don't see why not. It might even do something, make Lavender's life and death meaningful either completely symbolically or semi-metaphorically. The Court doesn't give a rip so they might even spring for a nice headstone with that name on it.

It might be more useful if Bugsy doesn't know that could happen, though.

[Geekette]

Sept 19, 2024 1:25:14 GMT Runningflame said:

So, is it possible to name someone posthumously?

Sure, we do it all the time. Children lost before their time, bodies we couldn’t identify, nicknames and new titles and new translations of old titles for famous people from thousands of years ago,. Heck, in the twisted-that’s-not-right way, even people buried with their dead name instead of the one they chose to go by after trying to transition.

Its why I pointed out a bit ago that the Omega/Devil’s advocate question would be to ask; if the foley students die, but the court puts a name on their gravestone, do they actually care that they got burnt away to nothing? Where do they draw the line between the need to simply have a name and getting to experience some sort of unclear other benefits of having a name, and which is the part they actually want?

[Sky Schemer]

Sept 19, 2024 1:25:14 GMT Runningflame said:

So, is it possible to name someone posthumously?

But to what end? They can't get a job and their own clothes when they're dead.

[csj]

I know that "say their names" is a powerful slogan after an atrocity but I'm not too sure it will work here