Posted by Entirely_Logical 3 years ago Report

We've seen snippets of Northern culture before, particularly in Seven Days, but that was from the perspective of an outsider to not just the region, but the planet itself. The implications we saw then certainly have a different meaning in a post-refabrication world, and I do hope the situation for the "Walking Dead" ends up improving.

It's also interesting to see how Dasaci is perceived from an outsider's perspective, with many of Unauan'e's and Asu'qi's prejudices and perceptions of Taklia coming directly from where she chose to attend school - again quite different from the perspective we've seen of those living there - including those visiting from other areas. Stories set in Verria tended to avoid the subject altogether.

And that certainly isn't to say that Taklia's education didn't colour her perception of herself and those around her, as Ghost showing her to recognize her own corruptions is one of the greater themes to this particular work. In the end she has to eat, but her intentions are pure. Hopefully her broodmate can eventually recognize that.

PS: I always wondered how tattoos would work on creatures with fur. I can't see them showing particularly clearly when Unauan'e's coat returns though they certainly make sense for those who have shaved.

Posted by ObsidianSnake 3 years ago Report

Thanks for commenting! I was starting to become worried that nobody had anything to say about this one.

Unauan'e had a plan for what would happen with the tattoo designs for when she needs refabrication! They applied the designs medically, but also made them bio-model essential in such a way that not only would they appear on a new body, but the fur would show in the pattern, kinda like a dalmatian, I guess. Her subsequent body will have those patterns on her fur. It will simply grow that way.

Posted by TestAccountPleaseIgnore 3 years ago Report

I see the reference to Randomness's Her First Time, although I get the feeling the Eanli version of The Incredible Adventures of Captain Cosmos is slightly more prey-friendly.

Mehilga is written amazingly, and brings up so many (probably best unanswered) questions! How much is predatory instinct, and how much is Mehilga actually trying to be friendly? Is Mehilga into the idea that "the only way you can get someone to trust you is by exercising control over them in a friendly fashion", or is it just entitlement in the vein of the "girls only like asshole guys" sentiment you see in certain IRL circles on the Internet? Did Mehilga think of herself as a "grandmother" figure, or was that just a label Ghost stuck on her?

The same goes with Asu’qi - what's her idea of "dereliction"? Who's she referring to, specifically - or is it all three of Taklia's buddies? How much is familial concern for Taklia leaving, and how much is ideologically driven?

Roughly half of the population of Halfdrop are unable to work, and about one in eight require regular life assistance.
Question: is this saying "these people are too mentally traumatized to function in day-to-day life"? If so, I'm unsurprised, and also pretty sure the habitat administration wouldn't allow other predators to legally re-enslave them behind the scenes a la Hold Each Other Tight.

From my viewpoint, you've done many new things with this, and they all "hit", so to speak.

Watching someone fight off a predator is a first. So is seeing what life's actually like for spacers. So is Li - a predator whose only threat is harassing people at the workplace. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen one of your prey call a predator "childish" before, too. Oh, and the idea of predators trying to turn prey back into people, and not vice-versa. And actually seeing a scene with a robot; don't worry, it's pretty clear that they're not actually a character.

Questions (last): what does the "childhood neglect" tag refer to? AFAIAK, it's based on either Sika's earlier relationship with Taklia or Ghost's and Taklia's early childhood. Also, what's with Yaba R'Detakathof? There's evidently something going on in the background with her that I'm not seeing.

Posted by ObsidianSnake 3 years ago Report

Thanks for the comment, and I'm glad you enjoyed this one! This is the most character-focused of the long works that I've done, so I had some reservations about how well it would do here.

Oh, Mehilga. She has genuine sympathy and care for Unauan'e, but those can be compromised. There's a few things to learn there, such as: there is a fine line between repression and control, intuition (instinct and reflex) can easily masquerade as reason, and we're not always good for the ones that we love.

Oh, Asu'qi. Don't, uh, tell her I said this, but she's got a bit of a complex about her litter-mate Taklia. Also, she's over-worked. When the shaman's mantle fell upon her, it fit her well, but it's a lot for one to bear, even with some assistance. Since her brother "disappeared", she became even more testy. She's the type to hold up the entire world, an unbreakable pillar, but that isn't entirely healthy.

Oh, The Incredible Adventures of Captain Cosmos -- hated the reboot, totally messed up Rusty's character. >:C Nice eye, by the way, yes, that's exactly the source of this! I sneak in a lot of little references to other works in my own, sometimes very explicitly by name like here, but typically a bit more subtle. Anyway, it's basically the same show on Eanli, ha ha! There's actually some deep lore involved in why Unauan'e even knows about the old show. It's probably never going to end up in anything, so I'll just say outright that way back in the day, a group in Verria included it in general show reels, complete with sub-titles, usually chasing the national news. This was for propagandistic purposes, as it was mostly reviled, basically a national-level hate-watch. However, some of it was ultimately inspiring! Some terms, plot points, and sci-fi conceits in Verrian genre fiction commonly have their roots in those cartoons. It turned out to be an accidental touchstone.

As for Halfdrop: trauma is a part of the picture, yes, but that might be over-simplifying. There's also learned helplessness, stunted development, and quite a few other issues. It varies from one individual to another. They're getting better. Some probably never will be "fully functional", but that's okay. I mean, who is?

(Spoilers for those who haven't read the story yet!) The reference to childhood neglect is from what Unauan'e went through after her first refabrication, compounded by the later implication that most of the other children experienced something similar.

Posted by TestAccountPleaseIgnore 3 years ago Report

Since her brother "disappeared"
I smell intrigue. Also, it's clear at this point, I think, that something pretty bad happened to their family. Can't wait to find out what, if ever.

However, some of it was ultimately inspiring! Some terms, plot points, and sci-fi conceits in Verrian genre fiction commonly have their roots in those cartoons. It turned out to be an accidental touchstone.
This seems to be a theme with your pred-prey relationships: the prey can't "look away", so to speak, regardless of how they're treated by the predator. It's in everything from the reaction to Kelriot to Verria's quasi-fascination with a cartoon that portrays prey as talking objects that want to be eaten. And, of course, the only way to truly act on how cool the prey think predators are is to get eaten, but I doubt TIAOCC has anything to do with that.

It'd be interesting to see how humans interact with that trend, though. They're evidently different from Eanli prey in some ways.

Oh, and by "functional, I meant "capable of getting to even the first level of Maslow's hierarchy" - "functional" is subjective at higher levels of it, but everyone needs certain things regardless of how they want to live their life. Some of these prey might not even be able to self-feed, walk, or use the toilet, since prey-delivery services might have rolled them right out of the refabricator and into another predator too quickly for those anatomical functions to be relevant.

Writing that made me imagine prey-delivery services may not always refabricate people with all their organs - instead, prey-shaped facades wrapped around sacks of meat, with the appropriate body shape/external features (eyes, ears, genitalia, etc.) to not freak out the customer, but no digestive/excretory tract, anus, vocal cords, etc. - no need, because the prey will die again inside an hour of being refabricated, and refabricating all of them would take time, and, therefore, (sardonic, horrified gasp) cost the company revenue...

Upon reflection, the concept of prey delivery strikes me as disproportionately dark in comparison to the rest of your work. People getting eaten and dying makes sense - predators have to eat people. But death over and over again, never stopping? Existing in drug-fueled hazes for vast fractions of your life - potentially your entire life - punctuated only by death? Being barely conscious at the edge of it all, just enough to recognize the hell you're going through?

...it's partially my personal biases speaking, but have you considered writing existential horror? This is some I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream-level stuff - literally, too, if vocal cord removal is a thing.

Posted by ObsidianSnake 3 years ago Report

Unauan'e mentions where Tu'aika is. Asu'qi, however, still doesn't know.

Change of topic: the prey delivery systems are probably the darkest part of the Eanlian Cosmos. That's subjective, but I would I agree it's dark. It challenges the idea that reformation-type things cheapen or trivialize the whole thing. To temper it, it's not thoroughly horrible for the food items, as there are mandatory recuperation periods between service events, during which they have company and decent care. It's not what many would choose, no, but it could definitely be worse.

Actually, it's funny, but the sort of meat-forms that you're describing, there is something like that. Kelriot mentions that all the way back in Hunting Paradise, and Unauan'e mentions it here, while she's standing near the very appliance that can create them! They're like low-resolution, kinda anonymous animal-forms that are optimized for dietary convenience. They're alive, if you can call it that, although not capable of motion or even real thought for that matter. ...Unauan'e is entirely correct -- they don't replace the real thing. They satisfy hunger, fulfill nutritional needs, but only that.

Posted by TestAccountPleaseIgnore 3 years ago Report

That's subjective
Agreed. I suppose there are darker individual experiences (Dacuna hinted so in Anonymouse Sources), but probably not ones you'd want to write about.

challenges the idea that reformation-type things cheapen or trivialize the whole thing
I like that; a lack of "consequences", per se, to refabrication implies the sum of a person is whether they're alive or not - a messed-up view of how valuable people are. Just because traumatic experiences doesn't kill don't mean they have no effect. Life - truly living - isn't just not being dead.

I think you might like Ohgra's Imperfect - it has some of the same themes, if in a more bite-sized package.

mandatory recuperation periods between service events, during which they have company and decent care.
Realistic; like some real-life things, it's an (IMO) fucked-up and unnecessary construct or practice people aren't willing to get rid of but are willing to put seemingly-arbitrary restrictions on.

not capable of motion or even real thought for that matter. ...they don't replace the real thing
The interesting question this conjures up is whether "the real thing" can be mimicked to "trick" a predator's needs - for instance, refabricating a mindless body remote-controlled by non-sentient computers trying to realistically mimic prey? See the Chinese Room thought experiment - a non-sentient computer that can pretend it is. At what point is there no longer an outwardly obvious distinction between heavily "pacified" (what an euphemism) prey and a computer pretending to be one?

I'd carefully claim (a conjecture, because I think I've only seen 2 instances of them - Alu and the The Perfect Student human) that trained prey are, under most circumstances, fundamentally indistinguishable from a very-well-programmed computer. Their responses to stimuli are seemingly usually predictable - unless you throw them for a real loop, like the one that particular human was thrown for.

In keeping with your focus on societal and emotional aspects, rather than biological ones, I think the barrier to a computer-pretending-to-be-a-prey isn't that it wouldn't work, but rather that predators wouldn't be satiated if they knowingly ate a thing, and therefore wouldn't create one in the first place.

Oh, and something I forgot to put in the 1st/2nd comments, and just remembered I really liked:

Predators often looked at and acted upon deeper things, things they almost never shared, rather than surface-level stuff.
I suppose this is why every predator from Kelriot to Mehilga is apparently incapable of realizing that, on a surface level, their preying upon people is often highly reminiscent of rape, what with the clothes being torn off, the stripping someone naked and forcing themselves upon them, etc.

Moreover, I think those "deeper things" are all their "deeper things", rather than the "deeper things" of prey - both because of the inherent predatory selfishness people in your setting often attempt to overcome, and because predators often see prey as childish/irresponsible/unintelligent/etc. They're incapable of empathy (not sympathy, empathy) towards prey, because that'd imply prey have a viewpoint worth truly considering outside of "oh, how cute, it talks" - as such, the thought that prey might have "deeper things" never crosses their mind.

Posted by ObsidianSnake 3 years ago Report

You touch on this, but these predators are keen-sensed and very highly adapted to be what they are. You can stuff them into a suit and have them analyze data streams to optimize production systems, and many of them will be excellent at that, but they're still a predator of highly intelligent creatures. The shadow of their prey haunt the dark corners of their lives, should they be physically absent for too long.

To these predators, prey are a near-open book to them. That does create some barriers to empathy. That's difficult for them to overcome. I guess that can make them less relatable...? Either way, it makes them fun to write, so eh. I will probably examine some of these ideas more in future works. :)

Posted by TestAccountPleaseIgnore 3 years ago Report

You shouldn't think their psychology makes them less relatable - IMO, their experiences are somewhat relatable, as are, in some cases, their ideas (Taklia and Eufenris come to mind).

I do look forward to more of these ideas.

Posted by Randomness 3 years ago Report

#MehilgaDidNothingWrong

This is the perfect story to read when exiting winter. I crave the beach and umbrella drinks.

Posted by Vulpini18 1 year ago Report

I agree with the sentiment.

Posted by Furryvoreonly 7 months ago Report

This story is so so good! I love the character arc that Sika and Taklia go down, and the resolution to it. Seeing more of your wonderful foxy pred like this is always a joy.

I hope we get a sequel to this some time, I'd love to see more of these characters and the unice little family they managed to form with each other by the end.

I also love the way you describe the joy predators feel when they eat prey. It's so vivid and deeply satisfying that it honestly makes me really jealous of them!

Amazing job on this story ObsidinSnake, keep being you!