TwiLyghtSansSparkles

WARNING: The following spoiler contains….well, spoilers. If you are not current with Once Upon a Time, read no further. Just go back and reread Kobold's excellent theories on Zecora.

Also noted. I'll state more of her emotions in future posts.

Definitely the sense that "if I do what she wants, I can stave off the death-murdering part." Her narrative could stand to have more of those thoughts stated instead of just implied, but that would definitely be a concern.

Noted. (Though in fairness, not every woman who is fondled immediately reacts with anger, or even grows angry until after the fact. Especially if the one doing the fondling is vastly stronger than she is. She might not even call it molestation or something similar until she and Shiny are separated and she's had a few minutes to clear her head.)

Aren't they, though? Noted. I'd been going off the idea that she's just sort of going along with it out of fear, but…. Yes.

Sorry. I didn't mean for it to come across as ranty. (I think this is why I like emoticons so much. ) And I didn't mean to make it sound like she wanted to make out with her. Just give her a quick kiss to placate her—but, like with the rest of this sequence, Shiny took it further than intended. The whole thing struck Autumn as a delicate balance sort of situation, which combined with the surprise of it all, didn't end very well. ….there's still time for me to edit her last post, if you'd rather, though.

No need to apologize. This free and open dialogue about characters and events is part of what I love about this game. I wasn't upset; more just surprised. She'll definitely appreciate the distance, and she'll be doing more than a bit of self....what's the right term here? Accusing? Chastising? She'll criticize herself quite a bit, once the surprise wears off, and perhaps even offer to step down from her position.

Honestly: I hadn't considered that interpretation, because that's not how I meant to write her at all. The way I'd seen it was that she hasn't been in her position too terribly long. A year and a half, or thereabouts, during which The Dalles has gone from being a recovering war zone to a town under siege every few weeks to a stable and benevolent, if very strict, autocracy. Most of the threats she's received on the job have been direct threats to her life, which it's possible to get used to—even come to expect. Kind of like how when I worked retail, I came to expect people being out-and-out rude to me. People would slam their purchases down on the counter and yell at me (in English or Spanish, depending on the customer) about how it wasn't the price that was advertised, they had a coupon, why wasn't their coupon working, they wanted to speak to my manager, etc., etc. You come to expect that treatment, and you learn methods for deflecting and dealing with it. Then a little old lady comes along. She smiles at you, laughs at the corny joke you're required to make, and doesn't make the "Oh, if there's no price tag, it must be free!" joke. Already she's more friendly than the average customer. You think you like her. You're so busy listening to her talk about her grandkids that you don't look at the back of her credit card; you just swipe it and hand it back. She takes her card and smiles at you, and you return it—right as she holds up the back of her card to you. "Can you tell me what it says here?" she asks with a smile that looks sticky now. To your horror, you see it: SEE ID. You read it off the back of her card, aloud. "Yes." She draws out the word, drenching it in false cheer. "See ID. You were supposed to check my ID before swiping my card." "I'm sorry, ma'am," you say, but it's too late. She's already launched into a lecture about identity theft and how you could've been complicit in some jerk stealing her life's savings and taking them on a trip to Vegas where he spends the money for her grandkids' birthdays on sin and whores. She doesn't ask to see your manager—thank goodness—but she does threaten it if you make the same mistake again. That's how I saw Autumn's jaunt with Shiny Sparkle. She's grown used to handling direct death threats. She knows how to navigate those. Even Deathwish's sleazy flirting is something she knows how to handle—most women learn how to brush that sort of thing off by their late teens. But an Epic who sneaks up behind you and says "I want to cuddle!" while offering to help with the invasion? That's the sort of thing that catches you off guard in the worst way. It's also the sort of thing that stresses you out, which is how I intended her outburst in the clinic—that was her snapping, not trying to divert the attention to herself. I can see how you'd get your interpretation, but it's not how I meant it to come across.

True, but that doesn't excuse his behavior. Autumn screwed up, but she shouldn't be treated as the only guilty party here.

Probably wise, so long as that Epic isn't Deathwish. (On that note, though, what about Reader? Not only did his guards allow him to get captured, but he brought not only one, but three unscreened Epics into the city limits, one of whom clearly physically intimidated him by breaking his nose. Once inside the city limits, Reader diverted his attention from said Epics, even allowing one of them to leave the premises, the only saving grace in that being that Edgerunner caught up with him, and began to screen not the other two Epics, but a harmless vanilla. His motive in that was not the safety of the city, but stroking his own bruised ego by airing said vanilla's secrets, treating the Taylor-Swift-perhaps-rampaging-through-the-city thing as an afterthought. At least Autumn stayed with Shiny and managed to get a few things done.)

Very true. The argument could also be made that Autumn was not only caught off guard, but overpowered by an Epic whose only known intent was flirting, and who could have easily been concealing another power, while most of the city's forces were dedicated to confronting various threats and a full-fledged invasion.

It probably almost certainly would've ended the same way.

I hope Vondra is prepared for quite a bit of shouting and pacing when Autumn files her report. And to have Arsenal think deeply about the question "What would YOU do if an Epic who could explode your head wanted to kiss you, huh? WHAT WOULD YOU DO, MISTER ARSENAL?"

Obviously Rumor is a minor Epic who teaches history in The Dalles.

Pay up in what? Does Shiny Sparkle take payment in pug pictures, too?

Methinks I have some revisions to make to Koschei's death scene.

I'd be inclined to say no, just because it seems as though Calamity uses one specific fear--the strongest fear--to grant powers. When David conquered his water fear, it appeared as though Calamity's hands were tied. If a weakness could change, I think he'd just say "No worries" and use David's fear of street mimes. (But that does make me question why Calamity didn't use that fear in the first place. Fear of street mimes is the strongest and most essential fear any human can possess. ) ....perhaps, but if so, he isn't doing a very good job of it. He's less like a calm and patient parent teaching a child to swim through lessons and encouragement, and more like a drunk uncle who tosses the kid into a lake and returns in an hour to see if he'll be on the news that evening.

At 45% in Wok….. We learn more about modern opinions of the past. Dalinar and Navani's past is revealed. Dalinar is less than pleased at how it comes about. Makkek's strategy:

It isn't mentioned in Firefight, and when asked, Brandon RAFOed it, but my theory is that, since weaknesses are based on fear, removing a weakness is possible, but it takes time, just as it takes time to get over a fear. Facing a fear removes the corruption, but I think weaknesses continue to affect the Epic in question for some time after the fear is faced, though in proportionately lesser amounts as the fear is gradually conquered. I don't know if this requires the Epic to continually face their weakness, or if it's something that fades naturally over time, but I do think losing a weakness is possible. Like losing any other fear, I think it's a process. Calamity might prove me wrong, but that's my theory for now.

Um…..setting up a sitcom called Everyone Loves Kobold, as evidenced by this comic from your birthday party?

It's okay. You like cats and pancakes, so Funtimes likes you.

I don't know how many of you have seen Downton Abbey, but I think a crossover between it and Warbreaker would be awesome for one reason and one reason only: we'd get to see a conversation between Lightsong and the Dowager Countess Grandtham. Alternatively, I could support a Mistborn/Iron Man crossover for hilarity's sake.

Agreed. I think we should find Schrodinger's cat and take it on an extended "vacation" where we cuddle it while feeding it delicacies like fish and chicken.

I wonder if Schrodinger's cat would like a bite of salmon. Because I think Schrodinger's cat would like a bite of salmon. (That's about how far my thoughts on that model go. )