[FFML] [Fanfic][Ranma/SM] On A Clear Day You Can See Forever Chapter 21

[Bert Miller]

David McMillan wrote:
> Mark MacKinnon wrote:
>   
>> Bert Miller wrote:
>>     
>>> Mark MacKinnon wrote:
>>>       
>>> By the way, whatever happened to the "curdled magick leftover" of the 
>>> Underlords' which
>>> launched this attack, anyway?  Is it still up there in the clouds, 
>>> hovering?
>>>       
>>     Wynneth's spell called it for a specific purpose.  The storm feeds 
>> on the remnants of the expended power, but the threat has dissipated.
>>     
>
> 	???  I just re-read the previous chapters a couple months ago, and I
> swear I don't recall anything that implied that the Cloud Thing was old
> Underlord magick.  What did I miss?
>   
One of Mark's replies to my comments on Chapter 20, that's what.
I speculated in my comments that the mysterious object in the clouds
above the palace was Crimson Thorn, the sister ship to White Destiny
(Desidinder); Mark came right out in his reply and said "no", and hinted
that it's one of the Underlord's leftovers.

>> (Does anyone find it strange that we hear of the hells, and the old 
>> gods, but not of their demonic counterparts?)
>>     
>
> 	Now that you mention it... yes.
>   
And I second the motion.

>>>> the old spaceport at Carnica?"
>>>>      "No," Kendra said.  "Wait, you mean Carnica really existed?"
>>>>      "Oh, yeah, it was real.  A shining gem of a city, Gaia's capital 
>>>> and
>>>> home of the royal family back in the day."
>>>>   
>>>>         
>>> seemed genuinely intrigued.  "Hey, is it true your people actually found
>>> Now, from most authors, this detail would just be lending your story 
>>> color and verisimilitude,
>>> but knowing you, this old spaceport is going to play a key role in the 
>>> plot eventually.
>>>       
>
> 	"Bang, zoom!  To the MOON, Ranma!"
>
>   
Well, if it turns out that the Eye is on Nemesis (or is Nemesis),
and that Ranma has to go there to use the Key...

>>>> be a tall bald guy and a smaller woman with dusky skin, both dressed in
>>>>      "Sergeant Meaghan Piakesti,
>>>>         
>>>      "DS Otohari," he replied easily.  "Who's asking?"
>>>       
>
>   
>>> Right.  Your two Dark God lookalikes are running around out here, for 
>>>       
>
> 	...huh?  Aside from Dasma, when have we ever gotten any physical
> descriptions of the Dark Gods?
> 	Now, I *have* wondered if Yuu was the local version of Jadeite, freed
> from his brainwashing, but....
>   
You are correct, we never did get physical descriptions of the other 
Dark Gods.
What we DID get, however, are names:  Dios the Fallen and his sister 
Anisthyia,
for two.  And (just in case) chapter nine has a footnote kindly 
reminding us from
which series the character of Dios comes.  [It might not be amiss to 
point out
that Yu appears in chapter nine, but that Dios is only mentioned.  So 
why the
credit for a character?]  Now, those of us who remember their Shoujo Kakumei
Utena know perfectly well what these two Dark Gods look like.  Dios is tall,
with very, very fair hair; Anisthyia is short, with dark skin and purple 
hair.

>>> human.  Red herrings?
>>> Or Divine Deep Cover?
>>>       
>
> 	I *must* have missed a memo -- I have No Idea what you're hinting at,
> or where it's coming from.
>   
Well, ever since I noticed the resemblances, I've been scrutinizing this 
pair's
actions closely, but so far no smoking guns.  (They both eat very spicy food
without breaking out into a sweat, though.)  So maybe the resemblances
are just red herrings, and they really are just plain folks?

On the other hand, it might be interesting to hear what Peorth has to say
should these two happen to stroll by when Peorth is meeting with Venus
and Ranma next chapter...
>>     Or the preparations are detectable.  Either way, he knows 
>> something's up.  Just not what.
>>     
>
> 	Hmm... do Wardens detect dark or inimical energies, or do they pick up
> on stuff that specifically interdimensional in nature?
>   
Mark mentioned in his reply to my comments on Chapter 20 that the Key 
picks up
capital-D Dark energies, but not lower-case-d dark, so the Key couldn't have
notified Ranma about Fenrir's arrival in the human plane.  Another mechanism
was required for their rendezvous.

> 	It's this kind of thing that makes Mark's readers go crawling through
> his stories for the nth time with a microscope, looking for any hidden
> clues.  For instance, did you ever notice that Yuu and Usagi take their
> coffee the same way?  This Means Something, I'm telling you!
>   
Well, I'm one of those readers (obviously), but I didn't notice that.
You may be right, however, that it means something: recall
that the identity of Princess Serenity's father in the Silver
Millenium has yet to be revealed...

>>> Now for some speculation:  I've been assuming all along the the Eye 
>>> resides in this sphere.  In fact,
>>> for a long time I assumed that the Eye was, in fact, Nemesis (the 
>>> first home of the Gods when they
>>> came to Gaia).  This now looks unlikely.  But if the Eye isn't to play 
>>> a key role, then what's so
>>> special about this sphere?  Or, put another way, if the Eye IS in this 
>>> sphere, then WHY did the
>>> keymakers (presumably) build it here?  And, if the Eye ISN'T in this 
>>> sphere, why did snapping the
>>> hyperlinks to it stop the spread of chaos?
>>>       
>
> 	Now that's an angle I never thought of.  I always thought that Illianka 
> was saving *this* sphere, expecting all the rest to be destroyed or 
> taken over, and that the larger multiverse from which Ranma and the DTF 
> come survived by chance, or by an unforseen side effect of Illianka's 
> sacrifice.  But if the "geography" of the multiverse makes Gaea some 
> sort of choke point...
>   
Well, it was clear in Chapter 18 that Illianka's intent at the time was to
preserve Gaia, this sphere, by snapping all the hyperlinks to it.  And
it was also made clear that Hild, Mara, and Peorth all thought that
the rest of creation was toast.  However, we readers know that
the rest of the hyperlinked spheres in the multiverse survived just
fine.  (I mentioned that this discrepancy seemed odd to me a couple
of times in comments on various story chapters, and Mark replied
along the lines of, "Yes, that IS odd, isn't it.")

It's a big discrepancy, but easily explained if Illianka's snapping
of the hyperlinks is the CAUSE of the survival of everywhere
else.  And how could that be?  And what does that say about
the origin of the forces beyond comprehension tearing time and
space apart?

Illianka said it best, way back in Chapter 3:
     "He took to the Paths,
      And the Paths lead, they say,
      To where the Truth is hidden away,"