1.21.6
on April 7, 2023
at 3:00 am
it’s hard work being the only person in the gang of self-sacrificing hero types who thinks being self-sacrificing is your full job
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
it’s hard work being the only person in the gang of self-sacrificing hero types who thinks being self-sacrificing is your full job
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: someone in this party comp needs to be the goddamn tank
Image source: liability
Oooh the pain of being a no magic tank
Insecurity alert! He can’t fight like the rest
But in taking the damage will do his best
Dude, you are a tank and you need to coordinate with your healer. It is, like, raid culture 101. Teamwork!
I didn’t realise Falst was so ripped under that shirt. He’s got that Bruce Lee thing going on where he looks like just an average-size dude until the clothes come off.
Dainix is doing pretty well with the first aid, considering he can’t do life magic. “You’re lucky it’s still on your shoulder.” Ouch.
Aurora Question #55: So random guess, but Falst is probably gonna get some sorta power-up at the end of this arc. What would be the power you would give him
The power of therapy and some pain meds
I second this! Maybe he could get an ancient medic-bot…?
Either indestructibility (The Lady knows he needs it) or perhaps somekind of antimagic to neutralize other mages (tho this would get OP quick considering how many people rely on magic in this world. Then again i wouldn’t be suprised if Red manages to make it work)
The power of ✨F R I E N D S H I P✨
Maybe some ancient weapon or robot buddy
My bet is on an Ancient something-or-other. Oh, what would *I* give him?
…some Ancient something-or-other.
idk, I think this will be more of a “The Power Was Inside You All Along” thing where we get to see Falst in a situation much more suited to his fairly technical skill set: enhanced senses, etc.
Or just an exploration of his mysterious connection to Ancient technology, which not even Erin can rival. Let’s not forget that Falst was introduced to the story by stealing multiple lacrimas and using them creatively despite having no experience as a mage; the Ancients also used lacrimas and devices to control the elements, despite being magically inert.
I like where your heads at here. I was also thinking it wouldn’t be a direct power up necessarily, but more of a redefining of what he can do. From an in universes aspect this would make sense, but also from a literary aspect it would be a bit odd making such a point of how powerful these protagonists are, adding another protagonist who’s closer to an average person when it comes to power level, and then giving him a power up too. It would just feel a bit like power creep, and I think having Falst as a leveled headed and practical, but ultimately less powerful part of the team would be a valuable asset, both in the group and from a writing point of view.
Congratulations! Your Falst evolved into Sokka!
The power of trusting that he actually is a valued member of the group, and not solely there because of how useful he is in combat situations.
I’ve actually had some thoughts about potential Falst power-ups in this comic. They are:
1. Ancient tech assistance. Could take many forms, a drone he can command, a variable tool he can use, maybe that arm gets completely totaled and he get’s a cybernetic replacement from an Ancient automaton.
2. Ferin curse evolution. I could see the Ferin god taking interest in Falst, especially given his travel companions. He might be able to gift Falst a boon or extra powers to help him survive, maybe a primeval form that he can shift into.
3. A sling. His skill at throwing rocks is well known; give him a simple tool to upgrade the speed and force he can throw them.
I’m not entirely convinced he’ll get a power up, but it would be pretty awesome. Maybe some fancy ancient tech or a cool weapon or something. It’d be cool to see Falst use a grapling hook type thing and do some acrobatic stuff. That’d be an interesting fighting style.
hngmm… knife
British Powerup
Pulling from some ides from everyone else, I’m thinking some kind of knife-like tool that meshes with his rouge-ish vibe and physical abilities while providing some interaction with ancient tech. A data-knife from Titanfall pretty much, it’s a knife that you occasionally jab into computers to open doors and robots to make friends.
He seems pretty close to alinuna (im 90% sure i spelled that wrong) id like to see them paired together in a dynamic duo sort of way.
my guess is he’ll get the powerup of “resolved backstory” and “properly dealing with injuries”
They need armor!
They have plot armor.
Most of them do have some kind of resistance, like Falst’s ferin thing, or Kendal’s metal bones, but some armour for the weaker guys would be a good investment.
(I also wanted to distinguish between plot armour and these resistances: I think that plot armour is when a character should have been more injured by something within the rules of the story. Having metal bones is different to just… Not Dying when you should have, according to the rules of this universe. “Plot armour” is a pretty negative term, and I wanted to explain the differences.)
He only broke it *twice* after all that?!
I think the CRACK effects indicate the breaks, one in the Tynan Boss Battle and one in the Arachnid Miniboss Battle
didn’t it also get broken when falst got grabbed by the robot?
I think that was less of a break, and more of a “OW MY ARM IS BROKEN DON’T SQUEEZE IT” y’know? I doubt that a robot attempting to protect him would restrain him firmly enough to break bones, but… He was still healing, so… maybe?
When most would yield me nothing, Red chose to give me three gifts a week instead. Thanks again as ever chief, you’ve been a lifesaver. Cheers.
Gonna echo @youngstormlord here – poor guy’s got the mindset of a tank but not the experience to rely on a healer after he’s taken the damage. “Imagine how many more hits you could tank if you got someone to fix you after you were done taking them!”
In answer to @question master – I think his powerup will be less an actual physical trait, and more ‘the ability to ask for help once in a while’
Nice character dialogue, I wonder what Dr. Dainix will prescribe for self-loathing?
Bad Guy Du Jour shows up and threatens the squad, only to stare blankly as Kendal and Falst get into a literal fight about who gets to be the one getting hit.
New plan: get Falst rolling on this tirade as long as possible so his arm heals as much as it can before we keep going.
I’m really not trying to thirst rn, but holy shit he BUFF buff. Like, he could give Tess a run for her money.
yeah falst, nothing else you do is worthwhile (flashback to falst climbing the side of a giant mountain and then jumping off and recovering immediately
also flashing back to fighting a dragon before tess came in
wOW I was not ready for shirtless Falst
Man, this boy needs to learn a thing or two. If everyone needs healing from Aliuna, you can’t be the exception just because “your heal quickly.” Some of these people have literally God-like powers and they still need her help. If they need help, Falst doesn’t need to feel bad.
He’s just letting his pride get the better of him.
also, i can already tell that panel 2 is sending the Crustables shippers into a frenzy, myself included
Falst. Buddy… my guy. Please.
Prediktionne (TM)
a) Dainix forces Falst to get some rest for a hot second, then we get to talk more about Falst, as evidenced in the chapter cover–
b) I’ve seen a lot of people theorize about Falst’s backstory, but could we get a summary of the theories in replies please? That could help us as we theorize from here.
c) everyone in the comments continues to scream about crustables
There’s a theory running around that Falst hid with his mother in the caves at some point, and she became corrupted. This would explain his facial expression while interacting with the cave crawler earlier.
The phrase “People die. People leave. It doesn’t mean anything.” implies that one of his parents died (again, cave corruption?) and the other one left. And he definitely doesn’t have any issues related to that, not at all 😉
Furthermore, the chapter art for this chapter features some Void-looking black stripes. This again could support a potential case of cave corruption in his past.
Credit where credit is due: I did not notice/come up with any of this. This summary is gathered from theories in previous comment sections.
I agree and in adition to that I think they’ll find some way for ferin to be mages and so racism won’t be “reasonable” but it won’t stop and it would be interesting.
I mean at this point it isn’t a one-to-one for irl racism and it has elements of queerphobia and ableism too and either way I don’t think it’s “reasonable” to begin with.
Dainix takes a deep breath as he realizes that being the team therapist is going to be even tougher than he thought. And that’s saying something.
There once was a broken arm
That’s representative of the harm
That Falst has tanked
‘Cause he feels outranked–
Dainix reacts with alarm.
And you think you’ll be less of a liability if you keep breaking your important bones without getting them healed? Falx, buddy, you’re making Kendal’s hero complex look rational.
I know it sounds weird, but : I’m suprised he has no chest hair
literally ! dudes a catboy, some amount of fuzz should be expected
https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-19-17/ i mean, he has back hair but maybe he’s just fuzzy, like kendal said
Oh Falst! Dammit, where did those onions come from? [Looks for onion ninjas.]
Falst needs major therapy … while dressed in as little as possible … like at a hot spring? Okay – most of that is lust talking. But to be completely honest, I want to see ALL of them at a hot spring. That nice hot soothing water would be helpful to relaxation is a bonus.
OMG Red – your art is so nice – and can be SO hot.
…buddy, this isn’t what she meant I really promise
Meanwhile, my aroase ass is confused at all the thirsty allos. He’s just shirtless!
Alinua does seem to be stretched thin, being the only person healing six people (thanks, Erin, you’re so helpful), but Falst definitely needs to take fewer hits or otherwise find a way to mitigate them; if he could get a healing lacrima for himself, which Alinua and Erin could recharge outside of combat, that would complement Falst’s tank mentality well.
listen, as an allosexual i don’t get it either but… there’s just something about THOSE GUNS
Eh, I was in the same boat as you at first, then when I saw the comments I took another look with my aesthetic senses on this time and was like “Oh yeah…I guess I can see that.” He tends to hunch over a lot, and not show much skin or flaunt anything about his body, so when he suddenly shows off his well-toned muscles it makes sense people find it very Unexpectedly Hot.
To be fair, Erin does have that whole thing about “always use a runic circle to cast blah blah blah”, so Alinua is better suited to come to her teammates aid in high stakes situations, and in general, it’s easier for her to just do the healing. That said, Erin really should be helping out when she’s out of commission/busy with other things/generally not able to heal soneone.
I’m starting to think Erin doesn’t have confidence in his healing abilities; like, he might be able to take a look at the problem and administer some first aid, but actual healing he’d prefer to leave to the experts on the subject. We’ve seen him use use life magic in general almost the least out of his whole arsenal (only water has been used less, due to terrain limitations), and it’s been wholly limited to three hands-off medical scans and one manipulation of wood. Out of his (non-void) elements, he seems to know the least about life, which tracks with life magic’s dangerous reputation in academia; heck, he might not even know how to heal properly beyond basic principles, seeing as he’s focused his skill into being more of a general utility and combat mage.
I agree with a lot of your points. From their conversation here https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-8-9/ I sorta got the impression that the way Alinua uses life magic is completely unprecedented. Maybe “healing” magic, as we’ve come to expect from her, just doesn’t exist for anyone else no matter how well trained or gifted? I honestly don’t remember if that has been confirmed or not.
No, other life mages can heal (The Collector can even heal physical injuries on a corpse, Jolon was stated to be Hilltop’s healer, and Void healed Erin while possessing him and fighting Dainix); it’s that no one else can heal with the speed, intuition, and thoroughness that Alinua can. For others, it’s a studied practice; for her, it’s like moving a limb.
I just had an awful thought… what if Erin’s discomfort with using life magic is because he neglected proper safeguards once and ended up hurting someone?
For those of us thinking that Erin should heal Falst: we’d forgotten that for almost everyone apart from Alinua it’s impossible to use life magic to alter/heal Ferin.
falst fails to realize that Kendals bones are MADE OF METAL and that having two of both magical and physical attackers is probably best
Aaww…cat-kun…
I imagine that he’ll get some sort of ancient tech to help his power growth. That or he’ll just have to handle his problems in, ya know, therapy. But that seems much harder
I hope he asks Erin to heal him, then…
Everyone on this team has self-sacrificing tendencies that ignore common sense; it’s just that we’ve never seen all of them in that state at the same time … yet.
I think I remember Red saying that Falst was the Wolverine of the group. He’s certainly showing it here; not only does he heal fast but he also has quickly adopted selfless, bordering self-destructive, determination to keep his friends alive.
I’m starting to think the best thing Dainix can bring to the group is proper close knit teamwork and openness as he had with his fellow Ravvan. Keeping injuries secret, not expressing grievances and issues, thinking they have to pull more weight than anyone; almost all the gang does some of these and they’re only hurting the whole. If Dainix doesn’t realise this he soon will.
Prediction for next week: Dainix gives his best “You Are Better Than You Think You Are” speech to Falst. Considering the person Falst is, he may need two full pages for it to take effect.
Poor Falst. But seriously, if he doesn’t start caring for his own needs, I WILL find a way to enter the world of Comic Aurora and talk/scream/slap at least a LITTLE sense into him before he kills himself.
Falst that’s not how RPG team composition works!!
Catboi swole
Oh no, poor Falst
Guys, I have a potentially crazy idea that the Light Dragon (The Lady) is the primordial of the element of “soul”. This is just a random guess, but it would have made sense as soul, though not considered an element for now, is a vital component of, well, living beings (also soulcrystal). Perhaps it’s just extremely elementally inert, with the possible exception of “life”.
Not to burst your bubble or anything but this is a fairly common theory amongst the community
bestie, I understand the realization. What are the implications? are the paladins special abilities “soul magic”? how does that bond work? because LD is still alive they can’t just take a bit of her essence and command it. then there’s the question of how that bond forms- and the religious implications of everything to do with soul. I think I might spend too much time thinking about such things myself, but alas- tis too intriguing.
AOUGh
The other can take more hits than you.
You are a theif that thinks he’s a tank
Falst go to therapy challenge
Tho actual armor would be nice to have.
yeah??? I think the closest thing to armor any of the group has is Danix’s poncho (it’s made out of wyrmsilk) and half of the time he’s either on fire, completely shirtless, or both. they could, at the very least, get some chainmail? some leather guards?
he won’t be able to take those hits for long if he doesn’t get healed
Oof! That one hit a lllllittle to close to home…
Ah yes the Beast Boy angst from the ogTT (and teensy bit from YJ)
Finally caught up
TL;DR: someone’s got self-worth issues.
Tanks need healing too, knucklehead
So, in simple terms, Falst has noticed how self sacrificing everyone else is and decided that he is the only one who can help while Dainix is here trying to tell Falst that this is normal, calm down, yes they are self sacrificing but that doesn’t mean you have to be, if everyone in in the group is a self sacrificing idiot we ll die and that’s not exactly healthy.
THE END NO MORE PROTESTING!
Ah Regen Tanking, a favorite of masochistic chaotic good types the world over.
Dude you’re really not durable enough to be the tank. You’re tougher than the support and the glass canon, that doesn’t mean you can shrug off direct hits. Work on utilizing mobility.
Falst, you idiot. Two of my most significant DnD characters have been clerics. The point of a (hitpoint based) tank is that you can pour healing into them without overflowing their maximum or waiting until they’re risking death from a lucky hit before intervening. Big, single target heals are wasteful on glass cannons.
Also, Falst, you’re a rogue. You’re great at many things but open field epic level fights isn’t on the list. If you want to be able to hold your own there then lean into this artificer multiclass the GM is trying to give you and deploy a swarm of robots. I can tell you from Shadowrun that those can contribute a lot to fighting powerful spirits, either by doing all the utility the party needs to free up the others’ actions or by carrying unreasonable amounts of firepower.