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[1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 11:22 am
by paarfi
Fred has posted the comic to his Patreon. He'll post it to the main site and elsewhere probably tomorrow.

Edit to add:
Fred posted this message when he posted the comic to Patreon.
I want to thank all of you for your patience as i got through the last month of the Bus driving duties plus everything else that piled up unil Friday of last week. I'm gearing up now to working full time this summer on comics, artwork and the daunting backlog of things i need to be working on. First up was to finish up this comic and get the rest of this scene worked out. In case you were wondering, i have been daunted by this interaction and how it would work for a while now and it took some serious head to desk action over the past few days to finally feel i have it worked out. You know i wont post things if it doesn't feel like its right, it's especially hard when i enter tricky story areas, like these. The impact of all this on the story is daunting, and so the gut feel is important. We're good now, so i hope you enjoy the next few comics (which i will be doing much closer together now, so you wont have to wait too long for the next one, hopefully :) Your support deserves me not screwing this up :)

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 11:24 am
by paarfi
Very interesting. Erika with the nice bedside manner, and then the twist in the last panel. I like the lockout/tagout on the wand. OSHA would approve.

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 11:40 am
by Invisigoth
That's not going to go the way Erika had thought it was going to go.

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 4:12 pm
by LogicalLube
Uh oh.

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 7:12 pm
by jkhartl
Ohhhhh. End of chapter?

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 9:49 pm
by eomdal
At first, I had thought that the last panel could be Erika thinking out loud in the third person, but the direction of the speech bubble suggests otherwise.

So, a milestone in the Megatokyo story, right up there with the power lines and Piro's panic. Is Erika going to go back to acting now? What manner of space-time-reality kerfuffle is this going to dump on Sonoda Masamichi's plate? And is Largo going to have to get a lawn mower?

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 10:27 pm
by darrin
From bag tag: "Dangerous Magical Device"

[voice=Colonel Jessup]"Is there any other kind?"[/voice]
Image

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 11:18 pm
by Rapierman
Evidently, Moeko is not happy that Erika ran off.

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 1:23 am
by Wonderduck
I had no idea what was coming. Of all the things it could have been, I would never had guessed Moeko-chan.

Holy crap.

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 1:25 am
by Yl33 D4 N00b
Twonk? British slang for idiot? She's not originally from Japan, either? She's cute, though.....

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:03 am
by BetaCygnus
Owh, I feel for Erika — it’s so hard to do ‘light talk’ to someone who is lying in a coma — and she doesn’t even know her at all… Those first panels really captured Erika’s feelings of insecurity, unsure what to say, how to act… and then in the bottom left panel she finds her own emotions and can be ‘Erika herself’ again… I love the tears gleaming in her eyes there.

And then Moeko’s sudden response… I’m SO looking forward to the next comic, Fred — but this was well worth the wait, as ever.
Thanks for taking the time to get things right. Longer waits mean more time for you to get things just the way you want it.

The longer we have to wait, the better both the story and the comic get.
I see no problems in having to wait. You’re doing an awesome job getting it right.

I just hope I get it right on my receiving end of the site. I would hate to misread the results of your hard work.
I know I don’t get all the references because I’m not very familiar with anime history and I know next to nothing about games.
But I do enjoy a good story with intricate, complex characters.

So, thank you once more. Your characters really touch my heart. <3

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:17 am
by cidjen
Beautiful page!

Given that Miho is Irish...

Hah wait.

They both would be, if Moeko was Tohya's little sister...
Or her child.

*Mind*blown*

It is hard to explain typing on Mobile so I'll say more later.

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 3:42 am
by BetaCygnus
And here I am, returning to ask if I got it straight in understanding Moeko is the *real* Miho…

Thanks for declarifying that again, cidjen! =D

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 4:54 am
by cidjen
@BetaCygnus :)

Well in 1540/1541 we can see they are not the same person. Also Moeko is much younger.

There may be a reason for that - if Miho was the person who got lost at sea, picked up by pirates and became their queen, until she fell ill... well the illness could have been related to how tough the sea life can be, on a pregnant woman with a cogenital heart condition... then she was returned to shore, ushered away to a far away mansion, and died there... but not before giving birth, and a few more years after. Miho, having lost the life and people who she was happy with, was then too fragile to take care of Moeko, and then died, and so her story was born. Whoever wrote the story later, overlooked the fact that one girl died and one lived on. Or chose to imit the fact. From outside, the body count was right - one girl entered the mansion, one girl left it. Screw the age difference. Anything to avoid a family scandal, you know. But such was the times.

Thinking geographically... Miho is not really Irish... either the pirates were, or the mansion she was sent to, was in Ireland. 19 century, maids etc. would not be surprising if she picked that up. Miho's home town may have been somewhere in England or Wales...

They may also be sisters - the age difference would be there, because Moeko was born when Miho was 'lost at sea' - or maybe Moeko is a distant relative, the daughter of the lord of the mansion where Miho was sent. Would explain the animosity. Then the family chronicle keeper was not enough adept at words to somehow conceal Miho's ordeal and so simply merged the two stories. That way Miho's story never ended...

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 5:46 am
by Ningen 2
Erika looks really scary to me. Very much not herself.

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 6:20 am
by Teddy-Werebear
"What's all this, then?"
I do not think this Moeko and Miho are blood relatives. Does Erika know how to throw her voice like a ventriloquist? That would indicate that Erika is not just acting a part, but channeling the character. How would a person in a coma for an extended time speak? It would be labored with lots of extra pauses I think. We do not see Moeko's face in the last panel, so I think it is Erika speaking with a big voice tone change.

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 6:42 am
by Invisigoth
Ningen 2 wrote:
Thu Jun 20, 2019 5:46 am
Erika looks really scary to me. Very much not herself.
Actually Erika is finally becoming herself again.

Erika asked Largo if he was going to protect her from a little girl in a coma, but who will protect Largo?

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 6:51 am
by paarfi
cidjen wrote:
Thu Jun 20, 2019 4:54 am
Thinking geographically... Miho is not really Irish... either the pirates were, or the mansion she was sent to, was in Ireland. 19 century, maids etc. would not be surprising if she picked that up. Miho's home town may have been somewhere in England or Wales...
Can you explain again why you don't think Miho is irish. The english language was predominant in much of ireland at the time, and especially among the kind of wealthy, well-connected people who had multiple estates, close relatives with holdings in distant lands, and could afford to send a daughter on that kind of grand tour just to satisfy her sense of adventure. It was the result of centuries of british rule. The gaellic revival, like irish independence, was beginning at that time but still largely yet to come. So Miho speaking predominantly english with the occasional irish phrase fits very well with her being from ireland. Add to that the fact that Vis, who does have inside information, has been insisting that Miho is irish since before we hit the first gaellic word or the Miho origin story arc and I'd find it hard to argue that she is anything else. Is there something else that I've missed?

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 7:24 am
by cidjen
paarfi wrote:
Thu Jun 20, 2019 6:51 am
Can you explain again why you don't think Miho is irish.
Well.

It's a hunch, a premonition, more than a conviction.

The landscape of [1403], can sure be found in a lot of places in the 'Isles. I know that (mostly from tv... but I've been to places in Ireland too that look like the 'remote estate' in [1405]).

Here it is my hunch based on the 'remote estate': 'remote' enough for someone from the main isle to call it that; remote, away from what she'd rather call home; based on reading some Pride and Prejudice and those habits, this actually could be Lake District, could be Scotland too.
But what if the smugglers returning her to the family, actually landed in a british-controlled port (basically any 'official' port back then) in Ireland, and so the girl was ushered out to some relatives (or her own fam owned estate, like you said). She was of poor health then after all so they wouldn't probably risk sea travel again (and also, they would risk being attacked at sea to take her back, and her previous crew avenged, by other smugglers/pirates).

Regarding language, Miho was living with the smugglers/pirates for a while and even became a lover of one of them. Would not be surprising if she did learn gaelic that way. Also Junpei's granny dubs her style a 'kinda brawl like a drunken sailor'. So she was with them for long enough to not only learn the language but also their 'habits' and fight styles.

And Vis... hehe I am with him on the 'game world' theory, and trying to push the possibilities on that and any other one ;) Even if I don't win the Internet for a day, it's fun :)

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:09 am
by Invisigoth
The Miho timeline is that as an adventurous young Irish girl from a well to do family she was able to gain passage on one of her fathers ships. She was precocious and had a head for numbers and business at a very young age and was trusted to do something "safe". Of course there were already discussions about her future marriage to a suitable young man (not a pirate/smuggler)

Now Fred has said some things about Piro's origin story that I'm sure are blatant trolling and would cause WAY more story complications than Miho being a Pirate Queen....

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:42 am
by cidjen
All my hunch is based on, is that I somehow have hard time imagining someone from Ireland, calling one of the estates around here that 'remote'. Yes they are typically surrounded by acres of ... nature, these days. But nowhere near as remote as (that times') Lake District or Scotland /could/ be. Even for the underdeveloped country it was back then, you could travel it north-south-east-west within a few weeks, on foot or by horse. Or waterways. They would be very remote for someone ushered into one from outside tho.

So she had a head for numbers, privately educated perhaps? Smells british. Business acumen? - all the more base to expect she'd pick up gaelic from the smugglers she's with, being of young age as well. She seems much more grown up when returned to family later... having been lost for a few years then.

Which just about gives me another hunch, pardon me...

She did not want to be traded back to the family, being the lively and knowledgeable girl she was. Maybe she could smell that no matter when she returns, whether as a 'victorious one' or as a 'poor powerless victim', she'd be forced down into the formal part of the society, that she did not want to be? She'd forever be 'the one that got KIDNAPPED by pirates', a hard label to bear. Strict victorian society rules ftw, lol /s.

I agree that my hunch of Moeko being Miho's daughter, would be having pretty dark implications, given what we know about /those/ times now. So maybe not. But then, why not sisters? Explains the vigorous bear-slapping on the face and the hard no-shit attitude.

(the trolling may be deliberate, but my curiosity here is unfeigned ;) )

Now, now, Vis, trying to sidetrack us to Piro's story? Diversions much :) Piro is just Pirogoeth playing G.I.R.L. remember.

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:51 am
by Invisigoth
cidjen wrote:
Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:42 am
<snip>

Now, now, Vis, trying to sidetrack us to Piro's story? Diversions much :) Piro is just Pirogoeth playing G.I.R.L. remember.
Dang, was I that obvious?

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 10:44 am
by cidjen
Invisigoth wrote:
Thu Jun 20, 2019 9:51 am
cidjen wrote:
Thu Jun 20, 2019 8:42 am
<snip>

Now, now, Vis, trying to sidetrack us to Piro's story? Diversions much :) Piro is just Pirogoeth playing G.I.R.L. remember.
Dang, was I that obvious?
You have no idea ;)

(btw, mod-note: s/Pirogoeth/Piroko huh.)

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 11:39 am
by jkhartl
Teddy-Werebear wrote:
Thu Jun 20, 2019 6:20 am
How would a person in a coma for an extended time speak?
Magic.

Re: [1557] I wish I could hear you talk

Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 12:49 pm
by Missingno_force
I think Im about as uneasy/confused as Largo in that 3rd panel there, awaiting the next strips eagerly...