Annotated 12-3
A deleted scene from the next chapter would have clarified that Syr’Nj neither trusted Bandit’s account nor felt that Bandit trusted hers. I don’t remember which of us wrote it, but I do think it’s better for the story that we didn’t use it.
To me, Bandit was by far the most difficult major character to write, and that’s largely because she seemed to get a lot of the side of Phil that I had the most trouble understanding, or he had the most trouble communicating to me, or whatever. Phil was refining a lot of the dialogue for this scene on and off for nearly a month, and I remember being surprised how it came out. (A few tweaks are mine, like Syr’Nj’s phrasing as she discusses Best’s demise.)
I do know that a lot of Bandit was inspired by Phil’s gaming experiences, which coupled his desire for acceptance with asking himself just how many politics and how much drama he could stand. Phil was less needy in that sense than Bandit, but he channeled those feelings into her.
Basically Syr’nj is deceiving Bandit here (while trying to lie outright as little as possible) about the Total Party Kill, but I got the sense that their resurrection eventually became common knowledge, if only because the World’s Rebellion talked about it (we at least see E-Merl find out, for example). Bandit must have found out sooner or later, and it’s bugged me a bit that we never got to see that moment where she realized it, or heard about how she felt about it. Certainly it must have contributed to her eventual alienation.
Oh, I just started reading Saga! Good stuff.
This is one of those scenes I have a hard time understanding. Syr’Nj feels the need to lie about the party’s resurrection. But not Gravey’s resurrection. What was gained by lying about the other resurrections?
Seems to me if Syr’Nj is going to spill the beans about one resurrection, she might as well mention the rest. Leaves less holes in her story that a clever character like Bandit can spot. And she can still lump the whole thing under the “one time thing” fact.
I’ve always found that omission to be strange, too.
It almost feels like she forgot that Bandit knew about GD’s death and just had to roll with it, without admitting to the lie she just told?
This was my take, as well–it’s the classic ‘tangled web’. She told the first lie, hoping to skirt out of the actual tale, and then was caught out because Bandit knew one particular detail that didn’t jibe, so she was backed into a corner to admit a partial truth and still maintain the original deceit.
I love Lying Cat. Nice side picture for the annotation here.