Annotated 13-24
I may have said this before and may again, but it was pretty clear which side of the Syr’Nj/Bandit conflict Phil and I tended to favor. Phil’s draft had Syr’Nj backing down immediately and completely after “Y’can’t yell at me for following your orders!” but I was like, C’mon, Bandit, of course she can yell at you for not thinking an act of terrorism twenty minutes’ ride away might’ve been an exception to “anything.” Syr’Nj doesn’t want to pursue a conflict right now– she’d be on shaky ground after lying to Bandit at the start of last chapter– but she certainly could.
Still, I did recognize some of the difficulties of Bandit’s position, and the cliffhanger here was mine: with slight hesitation, she confesses a detail that will draw her newish friends and newer recruits into direct contact with her old culture, and it’ll draw her back into that old culture, too. From her point of view, the social risks are enormous, and the physical danger is nothing to sneeze at. This is a huge sacrifice for her. But she makes it, because at the end of the day, she is a hero.
And I can’t help but love how much John did, at our request and otherwise, to capture everybody’s emotions here. E-Merl’s two-thumbs-up at Gravedust’s praise is my favorite part.
Yeah I’m with Bandit on this one. She and her recruits save the day by themselves, and it feels like Syr’nj is just trying to find something to be mad about.
Yeah, same. Maybe if their defense had fallen apart in shambles & this is in the wake of a sea monster destroying the port, but Bandit was told to handle whatever without bothering Syr’Nj, and then she handled it without bothering Syr’Nj.
It’s pretty obvious that a major attack so close by is an exception to a “don’t bother me” order. If the port were destroyed or some of the Peacekeepers died it would’ve been Bandit’s fault. Poor judgment on her part here.
Considering the report was that were was like three assholes causing trouble it would’ve been absolutely absurd to go knock on Syr’Nj’s door for that after receiving orders not to be disturbed. You are acting under the knowledge of the giant kraken-looking monster, of which none of them knew at the time.
On the one hand, I think Bandit was well within her rights to rush to the scene with her crew. Every moment counts after all.
On the other hand, Bandit should of least told the gnome messenger to run into the house and tell the people inside about what is happening.
I think that would have been more or less the correct course of action. Bandit responded, which was right. But to all indications she left no report for her CO that a major troop deployment was taking place and if anything had gone south there would be no one who realized that backup might be needed.
Because let’s face it, she DID want to show off the independence and competence of her team, and she DOES resent being sidetracked out of the limelight.
Even a little.
And Syr’nj quite correctly picks up on that.
I think it’s more that she’s worried about setting a precedent. This COULD have gone pretty badly. And she certainly seems to have picked up on the possibly that Bandit did it to impress her, when Syr’nj is already suitably impressed by her/their skill.
But she’s willing to let it drop when Bandit points out that there was, in fact, some other (small) reason to have struck out on their own. And presumably during the briefing Bandit DID at least allude to how quickly the tide turned against them.
Is second-to-last panel the cutest Bandit ever? I think it might be.
I was surprised Rachel hadn’t fixed her habit yet.
The Rachel/Frigg interaction here is great!
Yeah, if there’s one social skill that Frigg excels at more than all others, it’s side-eye.