Annotated 44-14
Gorgeous art.
Flo punched this up and vagued it up a little from my draft. The original referenced the loss of Frigg’s “nation and disciple,” and while it’s obvious that Rachel’s loss affected her, I’m not sure she’s even fully processed the loss of Gastonia.
I was sorry to lose “IF A BITCH FALLS IN THE SNOW AND NO ONE IS AROUND…I HEAR IT,” which is a very “Courage/Insanity Wolf” bit of dialogue, but it just didn’t flow into anything else we could have God say.
FB: Do you know “question talkers?” Yes, you do. Is it irritating how they turn EVERY simple statement into a question with an implied and immediately supplied answer? Yes, it is. But did you know that some question talkers can just add a question mark to the end of a non-question statement to give everything they say a slightly mocking tone of uncertainty? Would you believe some of us deal with those people on a semi-regular basis? We might even visualize them as giant wolves crushing the life out of a conversation? THEIR EYES MIGHT GLOW RED IN OUR DREAMS?
“nation and disciple” would have probably confused me a little.
“Nation” … I never had the impression that Frigg was too big on Gastonia. It’s where she lived but it’s not like she was Ardaic. I don’t think she gave a fuck about the Gastonian government. And to me as a reader, it didn’t particularly feel like a loss either, more like the Five gaining a long-overdue insight about the nature of that government.
And “Disciple” … really, Rachel tried to be a disciple but about half the time, she was more of a teacher to Frigg, whether either of them saw it that way or not. I also doubt that Frigg saw Rachel as a “disciple”. Probably initially as a fangirl, then an annoyance, without whom she’d probably have taken ages to control her glowy hammershit, and finally, as a very close friend, although she wouldn’t quite have realized that until Rachel was gone. Rachel probably taught Frigg a thing or fifteen about friendship and mutual respect and all those lame topics. “Disciple” seems to me a *very* condescending label for her, even in Frigg’s mind.
…although I’m starting to get what the Wolf is about … he’s exactly the type to ignore that sort of thing. He’s all about being a self-centered asshole. And that’s the difference between him and what Frigg has picked up about getting along with people in the meantime: You can totally give a fuck about other people sometimes, and that can actually be much better than the alternative :)
I just see that “evolutionary success” and can’t stop thinking of all the slow (in couple of ways) fat bastards who are around. Or proboscis monkeys. How in the hell anything evolutionary came to the conclusion that was vital for a species survival…
At least blobfishes have the excuse of severe tissue damage brought on by the loss of water pressure…
What people don’t get about evolution is that it is a random walk.
It has no plan, and doesn’t try to reach any goals.
What is useful today might be harmful tomorrow.
The ones that tend to survive are the ones who are ready for anything, since anything is what will definitely happen.
So, people who think Evolution is some sort of march of progress have fundamentally misunderstood it.
It is more like a drunkard’s aimless meanderings.
So… We should act like inebriated peoplepassed out in their puke in some ditch…
Damn. People on average are much closer to their evolutionary pinnacle than I thought. XD
But I do believe the goal, as it is, is to survive. Though I do agree evolution is not some sentient thing that aims at it intentionally. It is more just a byproduct of its march.
And becoming too specific is definitely not the way to survive. Versatility will pretty much always triumph over that.
Survive. Reproduce. Create a nurturing environment for your offspring. That last part people keep getting wrong.