So I’m a little curious a pity that water pipe, is there a stream in the mountain? If not a stream, where does the water come from. And what exactly is the purpose of the pipe, dainnix washed his face in it earlier so it’s probably sanitary.
I doubt they put in pipes just for washing. The cells are wide open, and don’t prisons have dedicated shower rooms or something? Is it for drinking?
Oh I just came up with something. Maybe there’s a water mage every few cells, and if a prison break is abound, they use the water to freeze prisoners.
Man of all the things to fixate on in this page I choose the water pipe
Okay, so I’ve had this theory in my head for a while. It’s been established that the Primordials can inhabit “vessels”, as seen with Alinua and Erin. Also, from what we’ve heard about the chimeric plague and what the Collector has said about Life, it can be inferred that the chimeric plague was the result of Life attempting to create a vessel, and that Alinua was the first successful attempt.
Now, what if Life wasn’t the only Primordial trying to create a vessel? Going back to 1.13.23 we see that Dainix mentions a “Demon”. Many have pointed out that Dainix’s description of the Demon sounded a lot like the chimeric plague. So, perhaps this “Demon” is actually the Fire Primordial trying to create a vessel? Additionally, evidence from recent pages seems to suggest that Dainix is this “Demon”. So perhaps what’s really going on is that Fire is trying to use Dainix as his vessel?
Of course, this begs the question, are any of the other Primordials trying to create vessels? I think some of them might be. In particular, Lightning. I think that the Stormbreakers, the Metalcaste that have been struck by lightning, may be an attempt from Lightning to create a vessel.
Does this mean Tess is Lightning’s vessel? Well… maybe. I’m not sure. Then again, my theory could be completely wrong.
I wonder how many borbs get “lost in the mail” in this city.
Yeah, Red was right when she introduced the Arenamaster, green and purple colour scheme is the hallmark of villainy. … Wait, Alinua’s colour scheme is green and purple. … Oh no. Is Alinua/Life the secret final antagonist?!
I wonder if Kendal and Dainix have been able to talk about this, does Kendal look down because he’s about to participate in a practice even Zuurith dislikes? Or is he just lonely and the fight may come as a total shock to him. In the past I raised the possibility of him being ok with fighting Dainix to ensure his freedom and to help him truely train his abilities, but he could just as easily be against it.
So Dainix has agreed to the fight but is pretty torn up about it, both figuratively and literally looking at those cracks. Still he might get one last mock show against the Arenamaster, either in revealing that he’s been a fire mage this whole time without A.M. realising or he and Kendal both refusing to fight seriously.
Y’know, assuming Tynan doesn’t crash the party before the fight even starts.
@ImuyanMangoCat tbf i think Dainix has a sort of max security or luxury cell in the top of the mountain, because he’s so dangerous or such an arena star or whatever, so i doubt that every cell or even every few cells have water troughs. it’s probably one of the few extra comforts he gets, or, like you say, a source of water for mages in the event of any fire-related incidents that Dainix might be involved in (hint hint nudge nude say no more say no more)
ImuyanMangoCat: Regarding the water pipe and prison plumbing:
If there’s a stream in the mountain that flows through those pipes, it’s not natural. Whether that means water magic, mundane plumbing, or something else, I can’t say. And it’s entirely possible groundwater in Red’s world doesn’t work the way it does in real life – there’s plenty of underground rivers in fiction even in terrain that it’s suitable for dramatic erosion like limestone caves.
As for shower rooms: American prisons and other prisons built along the same lines have dedicated shower rooms, but not all prisons use communal showers. (Indeed, there’s a model of thought in prison design that forcing inmates to share a space that would normally be private (bedroom, bathroom and showers) with other inmates is a direct cause of conflict in prisons, making it ideal to provide individual prison cells with at least a modicum of privacy for hygenic activities. Plus, even prisons that follow the communal approach have plumbing in each cell for basic bodily functions and washing up afterward.
Additionally, it might be quite unreasonable to assume Dainix’s cell is a traditional prison cell for this location. Prisons often make concessions to provide a more comfortable stay for notorious or otherwise high status prisoners. For example, mobsters in the 20s and 30s often had much nicer cells if they were favoured by the mafia, due to a combination of bribes and threats.
In this case, Dainix may have earned a better cell through the arena, either simply by virtue of being a fighter in the arena, or by virtue of his victory streak within the arena. (The arena master certainly wouldn’t be going out of his way to make his life better, but if there’s a designated champion’s cell, not assigning Dainix to it would be too overt to be worth what little satisfaction it might gain. (The arena master’s being more overt in setting up this Dainix/Kendal bout, but the reward for that is a lot bigger and, additionally, it’s only within the space of a day or two he has to worry about being caught red handed.
Actually, if Zuurith was unincarnated, he might have noticed. The arenamaster, as one of Zuurith’s emissaries, has a link in his soul connecting him to Zuurith, and even when unincarnated, deities can perceive happenings in their domain. I hope Zuurith did notice, because I want this garbage man to get comeuppance from him (immediately followed by Zuurith getting comeuppance from Tynan, and Tynan getting comeuppance from Kendal).
Eesh. That looks pretty bad. Judging by how calm Dainix is, either this has happened before and he’s successfully managed it, or he’s trying to stay calm to keep this from getting worse, since his inner fire is driven by emotion (though that would clash with the advice his teacher gave him). Or maybe he’s only outwardly calm, while inwardly he’s screaming at the garbage man. Who knows.
It looks like Erin did the flexing thing again, which means that the Arenamaster crushed a small version of Erin. Kind of funny.
Are we going to get the fight soon? I wanna see the fight! It seems like said fight is stressing Dainix out already and Kendal doesn’t look very thrilled. It appears that Kendal gets to have his sword, which might improve things slightly if Tynan does start to rear his ugly head during their punch-out. I mean, that sword is meant to be able to sunder a storm, and it has before. Honestly, I think that I’m so eager so see this fight not just because it’ll be cool af but also because I wanna see what is really up with Dainix’s skin cracks. It could be magic, but it could also be chronically dry skin.
I think either I’m missing something or the arenamaster is. It seems to me that if the problem is “Dainix won’t take his fights seriously”, putting him in the arena against Kendal and telling him “You don’t have to win, just survive and you both go free” is the worst thing you could do. They’ll already both be strongly inclined to either refuse to fight or just spar, and knowing there are no actual stakes attached to the fight will only encourage that. If Kendal fought for real, he’s probably strong enough to force Dainix to do the same, but I don’t think he’s going to want to do that.
Does AM have some plan to force them to fight for real, or has he just completely failed to realize that Kendal is no more interested in blood sports than Dainix? Or is he up to something else and doesn’t care whether they actually fight?
I really like how this shows how being obsessed with “law” the way Zuurith is would actually go. There are so many opportunities for abuse in a society like that, and you’ve really shown that.
I noticed Kendal has traits close to a Himbo, For those who have not seen Red’s amusing Himbo Ranking after dark, a Himbo is the counterpart of the Bimbo- male(mostly), “Beefy!” (to quote someone who like’s their cake strong), dumb as a rock and RESPECTS WOMEN GREATLY. Kendal seem to me to subvert this meme. Kendal is strong tough (and Blonde) rather than beefy. innocent (or at least inexperienced) rather then dumb, respects people in general. maybe even the Collector but won’t stop him from saving Vash who loves above all else. Kendal is in Vash’s war body which Might Not have ‘tender parts’ upfront (so not offend with the P word- sorry to those who prefer blunt speech). Again to Red you don’t have address this- just tell Your story!
I like to imagine the two about to fight, then sitting down to a nice pot of tea and discussing something trivial. (I was going to put weather there, but even that’s dangerous!)
And I just realized my comment says a pity instead of about. I have GOT to learn to type slower. Teh and taht are already ingrained into autocorrect, so they don’t get corrected anymore
I think the Arena Master just assumes Kendal will fight. His opinion was “Vash was very war-like.” (Which is probably just the perspective of an enemy city.) The fact that Kendal might not cooperate hasn’t entered his mind. The two of them could do a double-Ferdinand (just sitting in the Arena and smelling the flowers ? ) or a fake-out fight so Dainix doesn’t have to spend an extra five years in prison–but Tynan is coming. Vash barely defeated him before. I can’t wait to see what it’ll take to defeat Tynan now. Will it take both Kendal and Dainix at full “firepower”? Will this give the Arena Master his show? Will Tynan destroy the city of Zuurith? Will the three of them blow apart the prison? Will Zuurith get wise to what’s happening and decide to hand over Kendal to Tynan in a deal to get Tynan to leave the city? (Probably not or he would’ve noticed the storm by now–what’s Zuurith doing? Polishing his nails? Taking a spa day? For a control freak he’s not micromanaging very well.)
I wonder if the Arena Master has any sort of inducement for Kendal to fight. I mean, he’s clearly looking to use him to kill Dainix, but is there any backup plan if Kendal just says ‘No’?
I mean, it’s probably a moot point given that Stormy McStormbad is hovering overhead, presumably waiting for a rematch with Vash/Kendal.
Makes you wonder just how many gods are going to intervene in this upcoming “gladiatorial match”.
@rashkavar
couldn’t the water be from a freshwater spring? it’s an easy enough explanation.
sorry if this is completely off the rails- i won’t pretend to be very knowledgable in this topic
@wood guardian, I’m guessing here but I think the avatars are powered by Gravatar – there is a link next to where you enter your email address (on my screen on PC) that says “Get a Gravatar”, following that is probably how you get a pic.
HERE IT COMES
This totally looks like it will be resolved peacefully and nothing will go wrong
So I’m a little curious a pity that water pipe, is there a stream in the mountain? If not a stream, where does the water come from. And what exactly is the purpose of the pipe, dainnix washed his face in it earlier so it’s probably sanitary.
I doubt they put in pipes just for washing. The cells are wide open, and don’t prisons have dedicated shower rooms or something? Is it for drinking?
Oh I just came up with something. Maybe there’s a water mage every few cells, and if a prison break is abound, they use the water to freeze prisoners.
Man of all the things to fixate on in this page I choose the water pipe
In today’s episode of Aurora: The ArenaMaster establishes himself as Literally The Worst™️
I know the birb is just wind magic but I was still sad when he crushed it :((
Also the lighting on Dainix’s panels look very nice
Rest in peace wind bird.
Greasy skunk man is a jerk.
It is almost time.
(Bonus)
Does Dainix need some
lotion for his hands and arm?
I get dry hands too.
Arena master needs to get Baja-Blasted down to Haol.
I imagine that Zuurith will be pissed off with this guy when Tynan arrives
The fuckkkkkkk!!!! V cool page
Shoulda sent it directly to Zuurith…
*water mage posted every 2-3 cells
Oooh, finally we get to see some Kendall/Dainix! 😀 I sincerely hope they both make it out alive and untraumatized….
Dainix was told, but does Kendal know yet that he’s about to be press ganged into an Arena match against his friend?
I predict that they’ll get their show… when Tynan shows up and Kendal and Dainix have to team up.
Okay, so I’ve had this theory in my head for a while. It’s been established that the Primordials can inhabit “vessels”, as seen with Alinua and Erin. Also, from what we’ve heard about the chimeric plague and what the Collector has said about Life, it can be inferred that the chimeric plague was the result of Life attempting to create a vessel, and that Alinua was the first successful attempt.
Now, what if Life wasn’t the only Primordial trying to create a vessel? Going back to 1.13.23 we see that Dainix mentions a “Demon”. Many have pointed out that Dainix’s description of the Demon sounded a lot like the chimeric plague. So, perhaps this “Demon” is actually the Fire Primordial trying to create a vessel? Additionally, evidence from recent pages seems to suggest that Dainix is this “Demon”. So perhaps what’s really going on is that Fire is trying to use Dainix as his vessel?
Of course, this begs the question, are any of the other Primordials trying to create vessels? I think some of them might be. In particular, Lightning. I think that the Stormbreakers, the Metalcaste that have been struck by lightning, may be an attempt from Lightning to create a vessel.
Does this mean Tess is Lightning’s vessel? Well… maybe. I’m not sure. Then again, my theory could be completely wrong.
crack!
(hoping for a good fight…)
I wonder how many borbs get “lost in the mail” in this city.
Yeah, Red was right when she introduced the Arenamaster, green and purple colour scheme is the hallmark of villainy. … Wait, Alinua’s colour scheme is green and purple. … Oh no. Is Alinua/Life the secret final antagonist?!
I wonder if Kendal and Dainix have been able to talk about this, does Kendal look down because he’s about to participate in a practice even Zuurith dislikes? Or is he just lonely and the fight may come as a total shock to him. In the past I raised the possibility of him being ok with fighting Dainix to ensure his freedom and to help him truely train his abilities, but he could just as easily be against it.
So Dainix has agreed to the fight but is pretty torn up about it, both figuratively and literally looking at those cracks. Still he might get one last mock show against the Arenamaster, either in revealing that he’s been a fire mage this whole time without A.M. realising or he and Kendal both refusing to fight seriously.
Y’know, assuming Tynan doesn’t crash the party before the fight even starts.
@ImuyanMangoCat tbf i think Dainix has a sort of max security or luxury cell in the top of the mountain, because he’s so dangerous or such an arena star or whatever, so i doubt that every cell or even every few cells have water troughs. it’s probably one of the few extra comforts he gets, or, like you say, a source of water for mages in the event of any fire-related incidents that Dainix might be involved in (hint hint nudge nude say no more say no more)
ImuyanMangoCat: Regarding the water pipe and prison plumbing:
If there’s a stream in the mountain that flows through those pipes, it’s not natural. Whether that means water magic, mundane plumbing, or something else, I can’t say. And it’s entirely possible groundwater in Red’s world doesn’t work the way it does in real life – there’s plenty of underground rivers in fiction even in terrain that it’s suitable for dramatic erosion like limestone caves.
As for shower rooms: American prisons and other prisons built along the same lines have dedicated shower rooms, but not all prisons use communal showers. (Indeed, there’s a model of thought in prison design that forcing inmates to share a space that would normally be private (bedroom, bathroom and showers) with other inmates is a direct cause of conflict in prisons, making it ideal to provide individual prison cells with at least a modicum of privacy for hygenic activities. Plus, even prisons that follow the communal approach have plumbing in each cell for basic bodily functions and washing up afterward.
Additionally, it might be quite unreasonable to assume Dainix’s cell is a traditional prison cell for this location. Prisons often make concessions to provide a more comfortable stay for notorious or otherwise high status prisoners. For example, mobsters in the 20s and 30s often had much nicer cells if they were favoured by the mafia, due to a combination of bribes and threats.
In this case, Dainix may have earned a better cell through the arena, either simply by virtue of being a fighter in the arena, or by virtue of his victory streak within the arena. (The arena master certainly wouldn’t be going out of his way to make his life better, but if there’s a designated champion’s cell, not assigning Dainix to it would be too overt to be worth what little satisfaction it might gain. (The arena master’s being more overt in setting up this Dainix/Kendal bout, but the reward for that is a lot bigger and, additionally, it’s only within the space of a day or two he has to worry about being caught red handed.
This page’s image source: time.
(again)
Oh boy, time for the squad to destroy the arena!
Actually, if Zuurith was unincarnated, he might have noticed. The arenamaster, as one of Zuurith’s emissaries, has a link in his soul connecting him to Zuurith, and even when unincarnated, deities can perceive happenings in their domain. I hope Zuurith did notice, because I want this garbage man to get comeuppance from him (immediately followed by Zuurith getting comeuppance from Tynan, and Tynan getting comeuppance from Kendal).
Eesh. That looks pretty bad. Judging by how calm Dainix is, either this has happened before and he’s successfully managed it, or he’s trying to stay calm to keep this from getting worse, since his inner fire is driven by emotion (though that would clash with the advice his teacher gave him). Or maybe he’s only outwardly calm, while inwardly he’s screaming at the garbage man. Who knows.
“We’d love to return your buddy right away, but his arena match just started, we can’t call it off now.” (whispering) “Quick, start the arena match!”
“…why did he include the second part in the message-bird-thing?”
“I don’t think he understands how the spell works.”
It looks like Erin did the flexing thing again, which means that the Arenamaster crushed a small version of Erin. Kind of funny.
Are we going to get the fight soon? I wanna see the fight! It seems like said fight is stressing Dainix out already and Kendal doesn’t look very thrilled. It appears that Kendal gets to have his sword, which might improve things slightly if Tynan does start to rear his ugly head during their punch-out. I mean, that sword is meant to be able to sunder a storm, and it has before. Honestly, I think that I’m so eager so see this fight not just because it’ll be cool af but also because I wanna see what is really up with Dainix’s skin cracks. It could be magic, but it could also be chronically dry skin.
21st of What?
I think either I’m missing something or the arenamaster is. It seems to me that if the problem is “Dainix won’t take his fights seriously”, putting him in the arena against Kendal and telling him “You don’t have to win, just survive and you both go free” is the worst thing you could do. They’ll already both be strongly inclined to either refuse to fight or just spar, and knowing there are no actual stakes attached to the fight will only encourage that. If Kendal fought for real, he’s probably strong enough to force Dainix to do the same, but I don’t think he’s going to want to do that.
Does AM have some plan to force them to fight for real, or has he just completely failed to realize that Kendal is no more interested in blood sports than Dainix? Or is he up to something else and doesn’t care whether they actually fight?
noooooo smol birb 🙁
Hey its not all bad. Kendal gets a private bath spring.
@Darth Fëanor RIP ?
TL;DR: Heroes incoming! Quick, start the fight now so they can’t pull a last minute rescue!
I really like how this shows how being obsessed with “law” the way Zuurith is would actually go. There are so many opportunities for abuse in a society like that, and you’ve really shown that.
alt text: two bros chilling in a prison half a mountain apart cuz of bloodsport
… I just finished reading everything- and now I have to wait on the next page….. *silent scream*
I noticed Kendal has traits close to a Himbo, For those who have not seen Red’s amusing Himbo Ranking after dark, a Himbo is the counterpart of the Bimbo- male(mostly), “Beefy!” (to quote someone who like’s their cake strong), dumb as a rock and RESPECTS WOMEN GREATLY. Kendal seem to me to subvert this meme. Kendal is strong tough (and Blonde) rather than beefy. innocent (or at least inexperienced) rather then dumb, respects people in general. maybe even the Collector but won’t stop him from saving Vash who loves above all else. Kendal is in Vash’s war body which Might Not have ‘tender parts’ upfront (so not offend with the P word- sorry to those who prefer blunt speech). Again to Red you don’t have address this- just tell Your story!
@Eclypia: Welcome to the fandom! Don’t worry, you’ll get used to the wait between pages.
I like to imagine the two about to fight, then sitting down to a nice pot of tea and discussing something trivial. (I was going to put weather there, but even that’s dangerous!)
Wow I didn’t expect anyone to reply to my water pipe thing, thank you veggisnake and rashkavar.
And I just realized my comment says a pity instead of about. I have GOT to learn to type slower. Teh and taht are already ingrained into autocorrect, so they don’t get corrected anymore
@Amy, these are really good points.
I think the Arena Master just assumes Kendal will fight. His opinion was “Vash was very war-like.” (Which is probably just the perspective of an enemy city.) The fact that Kendal might not cooperate hasn’t entered his mind. The two of them could do a double-Ferdinand (just sitting in the Arena and smelling the flowers ? ) or a fake-out fight so Dainix doesn’t have to spend an extra five years in prison–but Tynan is coming. Vash barely defeated him before. I can’t wait to see what it’ll take to defeat Tynan now. Will it take both Kendal and Dainix at full “firepower”? Will this give the Arena Master his show? Will Tynan destroy the city of Zuurith? Will the three of them blow apart the prison? Will Zuurith get wise to what’s happening and decide to hand over Kendal to Tynan in a deal to get Tynan to leave the city? (Probably not or he would’ve noticed the storm by now–what’s Zuurith doing? Polishing his nails? Taking a spa day? For a control freak he’s not micromanaging very well.)
I can’t wait to find out!
The Arenamaster: “Thanks for checking in, I’m still a ?Piece of Garbage!?”
I wonder if the Arena Master has any sort of inducement for Kendal to fight. I mean, he’s clearly looking to use him to kill Dainix, but is there any backup plan if Kendal just says ‘No’?
I mean, it’s probably a moot point given that Stormy McStormbad is hovering overhead, presumably waiting for a rematch with Vash/Kendal.
Makes you wonder just how many gods are going to intervene in this upcoming “gladiatorial match”.
Oh yeah, I’d nearly forgotten about this subplot.
@rashkavar
couldn’t the water be from a freshwater spring? it’s an easy enough explanation.
sorry if this is completely off the rails- i won’t pretend to be very knowledgable in this topic
how do you get a profile picture?
anyone?
how do you get a profile picture?
anyone??
can anybody tell me how to add a profile picture??
He skwimsh the bird >:c
@wood guardian, I’m guessing here but I think the avatars are powered by Gravatar – there is a link next to where you enter your email address (on my screen on PC) that says “Get a Gravatar”, following that is probably how you get a pic.
ImuyanMangoCat:
Lol, my autocorrect is the same!
I am caught up! :):(
This is the third page in a row in which the image source is ‘time’.
painite:
thanks!
bros who gotta fight in blood sports :(((
What a bitch