“If it were an older an elf, I would be offering him consolation on the eventual loss of you, but you cannot count on keeping the attention of an elf of that age for long.”
Agreed. How Jamie's Great-Grandfather shut off about it is kind of scary. Kind of like, Oh, he owns you now and I really shouldn't mettle. Jamie needs to get out now.
Jamie's always been a little slow on the uptake, but I'm starting to think he's actually dumb as a stump. First going off in the woods with Allie, and now this. "I should not speak to you further without his permission"? How do you not realize the implications of that? How is he not flipping the fuck out right now? Man, it's a good thing he's (apparently) pretty.
Just that one line does help me understand Iason a little better. I REALLY wonder what the grandfather would have said if Jamie had shown him the other bracelet-- the one that deactivates the stag bracelet. I think it's pretty clear now that the concessions Iason has been making to Jamie's delicate human sensibilities are absolutely unprecedented in elf-human relations. I kind of get the sense that the grandfather would pass out in shock at the idea of a rider granting his mount the ability to refuse him at any time.
Jamie is pretty entrenched in human culture, despite those visits to his elven kin (his grandfather's elven-ness seems to continue to come as a shock to him; the obsession with mortality is obviously a common elven thing, since Iason also made a remark early on about how his own mortality drove him, but Jamie obviously finds it weird and off-putting), and... well. It's kind of like Feejee and Mackenzie in the current MU storyline; from a mermaid's point of view, Mackenzie is prey and is being totally unreasonable to dislike the thought of being eaten, and from an elf's point of view, Jamie is a mount and is being totally unreasonable to dislike the thought of being housed in the stable and ridden at will. Feejee and Iason both feel they are making enormous concessions and having to be quite unnecessarily circumspect and restrained, while from the humans' point of view (Mackenzie and Jamie both having been "raised human," even if they both have other components), they come off as potentially dangerous sociopaths. I'm fascinated to see how both story arcs play out.
I wonder if granpa's perspective on Jaime's.. 'betrothal'? ...would change at all if he realized the full implications of how Iason 'sprung' the braclet on his grandson. Contemporary stag bracelets appear to be designed with more consensual human/elf relations in mind than the 'old-school' bracelets like the one Iason gave Jaime.
Jamie's grandfather may be under certain mistaken assumptions about how Jamie entered into this 'relationship', we know he's older than any of Jamie's human relatives (living and non) but is he old enough to 'fondly remember' the days when use of the stag bracelets was all about picking a pretty human and ride-ride-ride-rape-ride-ride-ride-rape?
I think it's far more a matter that he entered the conversation with certain preconceptions about Jamie's relationship (including the idea that Jamie was pursuing Iason) and never quite dropped them. Assumptions started the conversation, and they never quite dropped out. Possibly including on our part.
Indeed, granpa sounds much less creepy if we look at the conversation from the PoV that Granpa is assuming Jamie was persuing Iason. The whole 'There is no higher purpose a human can achive,' thing sounds less like, "Ah-ha, I'll let my blatant elf-centric bigotry slip out now since you've become a stag-bitch my grandson." and more like, "Well, I support your decision to become a stag-bitch and wish you and your manly-man well."
True. Which makes me wonder about the dwarves- we're already aware of their severe paranoia and the rather unique (and literal) gender wars they have, but for the most part they seem to be more akin to humans than elves are. But that may be solely due to a lack of evidence, and the tendency for them to keep things secret. As opposed to the elves, whom I've yet to see miss an opportunity to remind everyone else of how superior they are.
Makes all those arguments about how elves should have a bonus to Charisma (on account of their attractiveness) fall flat.
Assuming I'm not nucking futz (and there's definitely an assumption there), we learned somewhere along the way (bonus story, follow-up to the jewelry store robberies?) that the dwarven gender wars are exactly that- wars. The men and the women live separately because they tend to get into full-fledged brawls. I think the whole marriage and having kids thing does occur, but even that tends to be very much a case of saying 'I do' between kidney punches, and after they do the deed, they stay apart. But the whole marriage and kids part I'm fuzzier on, which my already suspect recollection should probably be in a police lineup for that one.
Very interesting, as well as disturbing... I'll be looking forward to seeing how part two of the conversation goes, assuming Iason gives permission for it.
The question about him no longer being a student was particularly chilling, given the mentions in ToMU about who isn't qualified to be a student... namely slaves.
It seems a bit tricky to me. On one hand it seems that being "bracleted" means you are essentially a slave in elven culture. But while slavery is still accepted in human culture I'm pretty sure that slavers just cannot go out and just nab anyone they want and theres probably a complicated legal process that one has to follow in order to sign away their life. It just boogles the mind. For example what would happen if an old-school stag-rider was wo go out and abduct a human in these times? Would the empire do anything to get him back or would it be quietly swept under the rug for the sake of human/elf relations? What if the family of the abductee then decided to take matters into their own hands and hire mercenaries to get their son back? Back to Jamie, so is he a slave in elven eyes? If so is he also a slave according to human law? I don't think so, since he has been tricked into accepting the bracelet I think such a legal status could be challenged in a human court. Could Jamie just take matters into his own hands and "sever" his relationship with Iason?
Oh. My. Kosh. That bracelet is getting creepier and creepier. Now he's throwing off the change back of your own free will bracelet. This whole thing is getting closer and closer to repeated rape by magic. Jamie isn't consenting of his own free will - the bracelet is making him do it. Is there going to be a dramatic rescue from the stables at Treeholme in the future? And Iason is really, really nasty. Trickery, deceit, attempting to get Jamie to give up everything - and the "love they shared" - one great big fat lie, the whole thing. Stag form or human form, the bracelet is master. In fact, the more subtle effects of the bracelet in human form are nastier. A real story flip at this point would be Iason suddenly repenting of what he's doing to Jamie and freeing him. Not that I see that happening...
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February 3 2009, 10:55:49 UTC 3 years ago
Typo?
Extraneous "an"?
February 3 2009, 15:29:04 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Typo?
That was the one I was coming to note, good call.February 3 2009, 15:29:35 UTC 3 years ago Edited: February 3 2009, 15:30:30 UTC
Re: Typo?
conjurors = conjurers?"it’s provenance" - no apostrophe
February 3 2009, 17:54:49 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Typo?
No haul of silver in socks in in this one.Duplicate "in" in this one.
February 3 2009, 18:57:34 UTC 3 years ago
Re: Typo?
Not a typo, as such, but: "There were also pictures of mom’s latest work"That "mom's" should be capitalized when used by itself like that (as a name), I believe.
February 3 2009, 11:14:16 UTC 3 years ago
Good thing it's a human university.
February 3 2009, 11:42:10 UTC 3 years ago
February 3 2009, 14:53:55 UTC 3 years ago
Jamie needs to get out now.
February 3 2009, 11:49:50 UTC 3 years ago
Jamie's always been a little slow on the uptake, but I'm starting to think he's actually dumb as a stump. First going off in the woods with Allie, and now this. "I should not speak to you further without his permission"? How do you not realize the implications of that? How is he not flipping the fuck out right now? Man, it's a good thing he's (apparently) pretty.
Just that one line does help me understand Iason a little better. I REALLY wonder what the grandfather would have said if Jamie had shown him the other bracelet-- the one that deactivates the stag bracelet. I think it's pretty clear now that the concessions Iason has been making to Jamie's delicate human sensibilities are absolutely unprecedented in elf-human relations. I kind of get the sense that the grandfather would pass out in shock at the idea of a rider granting his mount the ability to refuse him at any time.
Jamie is pretty entrenched in human culture, despite those visits to his elven kin (his grandfather's elven-ness seems to continue to come as a shock to him; the obsession with mortality is obviously a common elven thing, since Iason also made a remark early on about how his own mortality drove him, but Jamie obviously finds it weird and off-putting), and... well. It's kind of like Feejee and Mackenzie in the current MU storyline; from a mermaid's point of view, Mackenzie is prey and is being totally unreasonable to dislike the thought of being eaten, and from an elf's point of view, Jamie is a mount and is being totally unreasonable to dislike the thought of being housed in the stable and ridden at will. Feejee and Iason both feel they are making enormous concessions and having to be quite unnecessarily circumspect and restrained, while from the humans' point of view (Mackenzie and Jamie both having been "raised human," even if they both have other components), they come off as potentially dangerous sociopaths. I'm fascinated to see how both story arcs play out.
February 3 2009, 13:02:29 UTC 3 years ago
Jamie's grandfather may be under certain mistaken assumptions about how Jamie entered into this 'relationship', we know he's older than any of Jamie's human relatives (living and non) but is he old enough to 'fondly remember' the days when use of the stag bracelets was all about picking a pretty human and ride-ride-ride-rape-ride-ride-ride-rape?
February 3 2009, 13:34:13 UTC 3 years ago
February 4 2009, 00:22:57 UTC 3 years ago
February 3 2009, 15:15:55 UTC 3 years ago
February 3 2009, 16:11:40 UTC 3 years ago
Makes all those arguments about how elves should have a bonus to Charisma (on account of their attractiveness) fall flat.
February 3 2009, 17:03:08 UTC 3 years ago
February 3 2009, 17:10:58 UTC 3 years ago
February 3 2009, 18:54:49 UTC 3 years ago
OS request
Can we have granpa's views on this?February 3 2009, 22:16:04 UTC 3 years ago
The question about him no longer being a student was particularly chilling, given the mentions in ToMU about who isn't qualified to be a student... namely slaves.
February 4 2009, 02:59:35 UTC 3 years ago
But while slavery is still accepted in human culture I'm pretty sure that slavers just cannot go out and just nab anyone they want and theres probably a complicated legal process that one has to follow in order to sign away their life.
It just boogles the mind. For example what would happen if an old-school stag-rider was wo go out and abduct a human in these times? Would the empire do anything to get him back or would it be quietly swept under the rug for the sake of human/elf relations? What if the family of the abductee then decided to take matters into their own hands and hire mercenaries to get their son back?
Back to Jamie, so is he a slave in elven eyes? If so is he also a slave according to human law? I don't think so, since he has been tricked into accepting the bracelet I think such a legal status could be challenged in a human court. Could Jamie just take matters into his own hands and "sever" his relationship with Iason?
February 5 2009, 19:57:55 UTC 3 years ago
Although I would think Jamie would want to TEST the second bracelet...
February 4 2009, 10:29:49 UTC 3 years ago
horns of a dilemma
Oh. My. Kosh. That bracelet is getting creepier and creepier. Now he's throwing off the change back of your own free will bracelet.This whole thing is getting closer and closer to repeated rape by magic. Jamie isn't consenting of his own free will - the bracelet is making him do it.
Is there going to be a dramatic rescue from the stables at Treeholme in the future? And Iason is really, really nasty. Trickery, deceit, attempting to get Jamie to give up everything - and the "love they shared" - one great big fat lie, the whole thing. Stag form or human form, the bracelet is master. In fact, the more subtle effects of the bracelet in human form are nastier.
A real story flip at this point would be Iason suddenly repenting of what he's doing to Jamie and freeing him. Not that I see that happening...
February 17 2009, 05:40:20 UTC 3 years ago
To Iason far more than he
Yet realizes
Iason owns Jamie—
As far as Elves are concerned
They're already wed
It would now appear
That Jamie has indeed been
Taken for a ride