. Falst hesitates, watching Dainix, as the Ignan stands. He faces away, towards the ocean, markings glowing a bright orange. A crack snakes over his cheek.
. A blast of flame ripples from his mouth like a dragonâs breath, gone just as fast. Dainix turns back toward Caliban, wiping his mouth. âSo making me angry is part of your strategy,â he says, eyes narrowed. âGood to know.â
. “See, tantrums like these are why I donât like using my real face,” Caliban says as Dainix steps forward, grabbing the collar of their cloak and pulling them closer.
. âWhy did you trick Falst into getting the Fireseed?â he demands. âWas this some conflict with Rakhn? Did you want it for yourself?â
. “Do I LOOK like a volcano?” Caliban starts smiling again. “No, the shard is for you. Hold onto it. Itâs not gonna spoil.” Their incarnation starts to dissolve, flaking away into the air. “And when you wind up facing something that scares you more than you scare yourself⊠Try taking my advice for a change.”
. Dainix stands, empty-handed, staring up into air wavy with heat that drifts into the sky.
Yeah Dainix seems to be constantly balancing on the edge between the two, which makes me wonder what will be the thing that pushes him to ne side or the other
Unfortunately, very much so. Tess and Dainix are the only ones who have any sort of emotional stability here, and between Tess’s absence and Falst’s volatility, Dainix kinda has to be the level-headed one here.
Interesting that the two characters with the greatest emotionally instability, Erin and Falst, are both strongly tied to a (relatively) stable emotional anchor.
it’s a quirk of the site- happens to me too! often I can’t see my comment when it’s first posted, if you come back later it should have sorted everything out and will display your comments properly. and no worries, i don’t think anyone here minds đ
I remember hearing that every comment has to be vetted by Red herself, or something to that effect. She probably loosens the restriction later in the day, though. I think it takes an hour or so after the page posts for comments to even start loading properly.
Also, if you manage to perfectly copy the text of your voided comment, the site only registers it once, no matter what. (Which is why it’s a little annoying when people copy/paste their original comment with an additional “Retrying this comment because it got eaten somehow” because then the entire thing gets doubled.)
Much like Red does not allow anonymous asks on her tumblr, she personally vets the first comment of every user (which is usually a quick glance and a “sure why not” but there are spam bots that need to screened), and until that first one is vetted, none of your comments can be seen by anyone but her.
As for why she doesn’t come out and explain herself, the comment section isn’t her place (by her own admission), but the tumblr is, and she has answered this there
Caliban: Aren’t you tired of being nice? Don’t you want to-
Dainix: No. No I am not tired of being nice.
You can feel the buildup of anger in the first three panels, before it neatly finishes with a callback to Tahraim’s advice about letting out the rage with fire in panel 4. Dainix has not had a good wakeup, being out for so long, and Caliban’s revealed antics has only made it worse.
Poor Dainix, I don’t know what’s upsetting him more; the fact Caliban is nudging him along for some agenda, or that they tricked Falst into taking unnecessary risks to revive him. Still, he knows better than to attack a god, his god, and just lets his anger known; ironic since he’s probably one of the few party members who could harm Caliban to some degree.
Ah, so the shard will be a last resort kind of deal for a future threat, that tracks for a godly boon. Probably best that Dainix work on his current powerset anyway before adding something new and/or an upgrade. Still, what foe could warrant such an action?
A more prepared and ruthless Tam or other Palain? The Collector on the warpath? How about a rogue Crucible using their powers for evil?
Dang. Dainix handled that quite well, dispelling the edge of his anger and more or less keeping ahold of himself⊠but he has also gone from polite wariness to collaring his god like a misbehaving kitten and demanding answers, which I’m 100% here for. And of course Caliban slips away like sand through his fingers. Interesting parting comment, too; that’s a banger of a line in the last two panels, and a good setup for this shard to come back later. Also interesting that Caliban doesn’t seem upset that Dainix dropped the politenessâthough as Dainix pointed out, Caliban was trying to elicit angry reactions and (partially) succeeded, so it makes sense.
A quick visit to Rhymezone also gives: Beth, Seth, and Meth.
But yeah, given that two of those are names, and there are no addicts in the floof squad, “Breath” and “Death” are the ones to go for.
Maybe “Deaf” too? That could also open up “Chef” and “Clef”.
In fairness, Tahraim has only been helpful to Dainix (in contrast to his typically cryptic and irritatingly unhelpful attitude towards literally everyone else), so Dainix has good reason to trust him. Also, it’s unclear if Dainix knows that Tahraim and Caliban are working together, and up until Falst outed Caliban, Dainix was pretty respectful to Caliban, her being his god and all.
i wonder how long it took caliban to get the timing right on those dissolve exits. i imagine it must be very easy to accidentally dissolve too early and not be able to finish your cool one liner, or wait too long and give the other person a chance to have the last word. probably easier if they can control the speed at which they are dissolving, which i guess they probably can, but still seems like a pretty high risk-high reward way to end a conversation
As a trickster god, this is a very handy skill. I’m sure Caliban has had centuries to perfect the craft of Leaving Inconvenient Conversations On A High Note Via Dissolution.
crazy theory but maybe dainix will use the fireseed ((not as intended)) to gamble with rakhn and try to get the volcano ash out of falstâs lungs and save him?? and then somehow he also absorbs it idk bc come on why introduce it if itâs not gonna be a cool power up
A thought I had while reading this: we know that Dainix’ anger/rage can be breathed out like we see here to get rid of it. We’ve seen in the past that the trick for guilt is to let it change Dainix into someone that won’t do the thing he feels guilty for. The other major emotion we’ve seen burn him up so far is fear, on the boat. I wonder if there is a trick to figure out with that one to dispel it as well. It didn’t seem to crack the skin like rage does, so maybe the trick for it is to let the flame out through the skin without fully transforming into a Crucible? Feeling the fear, letting it express itself, but ultimately letting it pass through you?
ph my golly me its dainix
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: if I could leave awkward conversations by disintegrating I would never do anything else
Image source: angry
Tumblr text: it is wednesday my dudes
Blue Sky text: anything can be a conflict deescalation if you’re intimidating enough
School’s started back up, and I have a lot of stuff to work on, so I’ll be back around the 16th đ I haven’t forgotten, don’t worry!
. Falst hesitates, watching Dainix, as the Ignan stands. He faces away, towards the ocean, markings glowing a bright orange. A crack snakes over his cheek.
. A blast of flame ripples from his mouth like a dragonâs breath, gone just as fast. Dainix turns back toward Caliban, wiping his mouth. âSo making me angry is part of your strategy,â he says, eyes narrowed. âGood to know.â
. “See, tantrums like these are why I donât like using my real face,” Caliban says as Dainix steps forward, grabbing the collar of their cloak and pulling them closer.
. âWhy did you trick Falst into getting the Fireseed?â he demands. âWas this some conflict with Rakhn? Did you want it for yourself?â
. “Do I LOOK like a volcano?” Caliban starts smiling again. “No, the shard is for you. Hold onto it. Itâs not gonna spoil.” Their incarnation starts to dissolve, flaking away into the air. “And when you wind up facing something that scares you more than you scare yourself⊠Try taking my advice for a change.”
. Dainix stands, empty-handed, staring up into air wavy with heat that drifts into the sky.
screaming/punching into a pillow is out, becoming a human flamethower is in
This reads to me as something between zen-like self control and pure, tranquil fury. Such an interesting display
Yeah Dainix seems to be constantly balancing on the edge between the two, which makes me wonder what will be the thing that pushes him to ne side or the other
Dainix reacted a lot less explosively than I thought he would. Then again he’s the most emotionally intelligent of the team.
Most emotionally intelligent by necessity!
Most emotionally intelligent by default
Unfortunately, very much so. Tess and Dainix are the only ones who have any sort of emotional stability here, and between Tess’s absence and Falst’s volatility, Dainix kinda has to be the level-headed one here.
Interesting that the two characters with the greatest emotionally instability, Erin and Falst, are both strongly tied to a (relatively) stable emotional anchor.
It’s real satisfying to see someone not take Caliban’s bait… or any ragebait.
FUCK HE’S SO HOT
He is.
Because he’s a human flamethrower lol đ
and he’s attractive too!
Angry Dainix is so cool.
His whole thing is fire tho
Ah, applying what he learned from Tahraim. Love to see it!
I worry about what Caliban is preparing for, and Dainix seems have forebodings too.
Count to teaaaa âïžâïž
I dont like this foreshadowing…
Ahhh foreshadowing my dearly detested, what pains do you harbing(id that a word?)
My guess is that someone or something is going to get significantly singed in the not-too-distant future.
My money’s on it having something to with the lesson Dainix got about converting Void a couple chapters ago.
No, but “harbor” is!
anything can be a word if you say it confidently enough
i’d go with “harbinge” which is also not a word but looks a little more like one
And is also the implied root of “harbinger” (the G is pronounced and soft)
I looked it up and apparently the verb form is actually also “harbinger”
Ew
Okay where tf are my comments going (if yall can see this, sorry i commented so many times)
it’s a quirk of the site- happens to me too! often I can’t see my comment when it’s first posted, if you come back later it should have sorted everything out and will display your comments properly. and no worries, i don’t think anyone here minds đ
…makes sense but how do you guys stand it
I remember hearing that every comment has to be vetted by Red herself, or something to that effect. She probably loosens the restriction later in the day, though. I think it takes an hour or so after the page posts for comments to even start loading properly.
Also, if you manage to perfectly copy the text of your voided comment, the site only registers it once, no matter what. (Which is why it’s a little annoying when people copy/paste their original comment with an additional “Retrying this comment because it got eaten somehow” because then the entire thing gets doubled.)
she doesn’t have to vet every comment, just the ones from new users
Much like Red does not allow anonymous asks on her tumblr, she personally vets the first comment of every user (which is usually a quick glance and a “sure why not” but there are spam bots that need to screened), and until that first one is vetted, none of your comments can be seen by anyone but her.
As for why she doesn’t come out and explain herself, the comment section isn’t her place (by her own admission), but the tumblr is, and she has answered this there
As for why later take a while to show up, that’s a caching issue, and a known problem with WordPress comment systems. Not Red’s fault
I’m glad Dainix just grabbed Caliban by the scruff like that after Falst lunged at them so many times.
They totally deserved it, I thought Falst was gonna die in that volcano!
Man that fourth panel is cool.
once again Dainix proving to have more impulse control then 90% of the floof squad combined
Nice way of handling annoyance there, Dainix!
Also, annoying as they may be, I do like Caliban. And did you notice the nice mirroring of Dainix’s face/eyething as they are disappearing? Nnnice.
“Caliban! Stop being a dink!” *Bonccs them on the head*
“But it’s my favorite paaaaastiiiiimeeeee~!”
“NU!” *More boncc*
“ACK!”
xD
Caliban: Aren’t you tired of being nice? Don’t you want to-
Dainix: No. No I am not tired of being nice.
You can feel the buildup of anger in the first three panels, before it neatly finishes with a callback to Tahraim’s advice about letting out the rage with fire in panel 4. Dainix has not had a good wakeup, being out for so long, and Caliban’s revealed antics has only made it worse.
Poor Dainix, I don’t know what’s upsetting him more; the fact Caliban is nudging him along for some agenda, or that they tricked Falst into taking unnecessary risks to revive him. Still, he knows better than to attack a god, his god, and just lets his anger known; ironic since he’s probably one of the few party members who could harm Caliban to some degree.
Ah, so the shard will be a last resort kind of deal for a future threat, that tracks for a godly boon. Probably best that Dainix work on his current powerset anyway before adding something new and/or an upgrade. Still, what foe could warrant such an action?
A more prepared and ruthless Tam or other Palain? The Collector on the warpath? How about a rogue Crucible using their powers for evil?
Dang. Dainix handled that quite well, dispelling the edge of his anger and more or less keeping ahold of himself⊠but he has also gone from polite wariness to collaring his god like a misbehaving kitten and demanding answers, which I’m 100% here for. And of course Caliban slips away like sand through his fingers. Interesting parting comment, too; that’s a banger of a line in the last two panels, and a good setup for this shard to come back later. Also interesting that Caliban doesn’t seem upset that Dainix dropped the politenessâthough as Dainix pointed out, Caliban was trying to elicit angry reactions and (partially) succeeded, so it makes sense.
“Do I LOOK like a volcano”…says the flamey glowy god whose body is currently constituted of volcano sand.
OOOHH is that why they’re gray now?!
That, and it better resembles the volcanic strain of Ignans.
King Emotional Intelligence first takes a (fiery) breath
Caliban fades away after a riddle like for Macbeth
And thus I found literally nothing except âdeathâ rhymes with âbreathâ.
A quick visit to Rhymezone also gives: Beth, Seth, and Meth.
But yeah, given that two of those are names, and there are no addicts in the floof squad, “Breath” and “Death” are the ones to go for.
Maybe “Deaf” too? That could also open up “Chef” and “Clef”.
Nice job finding your way around that rhyme!
See, Dainix, even if you’re mad, if this god told me “hey, do this” I’d fucking do it cuz they clearly know their stuff
In fairness, Tahraim has only been helpful to Dainix (in contrast to his typically cryptic and irritatingly unhelpful attitude towards literally everyone else), so Dainix has good reason to trust him. Also, it’s unclear if Dainix knows that Tahraim and Caliban are working together, and up until Falst outed Caliban, Dainix was pretty respectful to Caliban, her being his god and all.
This god? This god, specifically? I’d counter-check with Tahraim first. He might treat me like a tool, but at least he’s honest about it!
Dainix gotta stop falling for the ragebait
i wonder how long it took caliban to get the timing right on those dissolve exits. i imagine it must be very easy to accidentally dissolve too early and not be able to finish your cool one liner, or wait too long and give the other person a chance to have the last word. probably easier if they can control the speed at which they are dissolving, which i guess they probably can, but still seems like a pretty high risk-high reward way to end a conversation
As a trickster god, this is a very handy skill. I’m sure Caliban has had centuries to perfect the craft of Leaving Inconvenient Conversations On A High Note Via Dissolution.
Wow Caliban is a little shit. (We knew this. I’m still impressed by how fucking *annoyed* I am. Get back here and explain yourself you asshole :P)
Caliban you annoying little shit-
If I could break up into a cloud of bats, Dracula-style, that would be my go-to for awkward-conversation-avoidance.
For me, it’d be a flurry of white cherry blossoms. This should be a power accessible to everyone. It would be so fun. And chaotic LMAO.
Caliban you firey snake
crazy theory but maybe dainix will use the fireseed ((not as intended)) to gamble with rakhn and try to get the volcano ash out of falstâs lungs and save him?? and then somehow he also absorbs it idk bc come on why introduce it if itâs not gonna be a cool power up
It’s a surprise tool that will help us later.
Poor Falst just been sagging all week, I hope he’s allowed to breath/stand up soon đ
Chekhov’s Fireseed
Hahahaha!
And your trophy: đ
Is it me or is something up with Dainix’s stripe under his eyepatch? Is that from when he lost the eye?
Man Caliban, you really are annoying; almost as much as Tahraim.
A thought I had while reading this: we know that Dainix’ anger/rage can be breathed out like we see here to get rid of it. We’ve seen in the past that the trick for guilt is to let it change Dainix into someone that won’t do the thing he feels guilty for. The other major emotion we’ve seen burn him up so far is fear, on the boat. I wonder if there is a trick to figure out with that one to dispel it as well. It didn’t seem to crack the skin like rage does, so maybe the trick for it is to let the flame out through the skin without fully transforming into a Crucible? Feeling the fear, letting it express itself, but ultimately letting it pass through you?
We got a prophecy yall
*sick guitar riff*
i love Caliban’s posture in the sixth panel. they look like they could be swung from side to side like a pendulum
Ah⊠I canât wait for this Chekovâs Fireseed to grow into a full grown Chekovâs Kudzu.
You do look a LITTLE like a volcano, yes. Less than Rakhn, maybe, but a lot more than Falst.
Dainix is even echoing Tahraim’s pose from 1.16.7 when breathing out his rage!