FOREIGNER: Discussion Post #6

[krait]

This is the discussion post for chapter 9-13.

I am now heartily wishing that I'd looked at chapter content as well as at page-counts, when setting up the reading schedule! (I thought even then it might bite me, and it has!) This reading was composed of a hundred pounds of action, a hundred pounds of disconnected info-bites, a thousand pounds of questions, and half a gram of explanations! My brain was churning faster than Babsidi's legs, but reached even fewer coherent thoughts than Bren manages.


On the other hand: yay, mecheiti icon becomes more appropriate than ever! :D

Comments

Re: with my own mecheita icon...

[krait]

I get the impression of small-bore rifle, which is a very different thing from a pistol that'll stop a human or atevi.

Thank you! I couldn't tell, from context, what might be involved -- popping rabbits with BB guns, or what? My knowledge of guns being limited to "point the tube part away from self". :D

Bren's "small, very small" game might be a further point in favour of Mospheira being mountainous? I do remember his first sight of mecheiti, and that he said Mospheira didn't have anything that size...

So Mospheirans still don't have much-if-anything by way of serious weaponry, not in the hands of the average citizen -- rather like it was in Bretano's time! (They do have island-wide type defences, though -- Bren's thought that "an old man in a rowboat" couldn't reach Mospheira unnoticed says as much.)

How might "taking the obvious course" count as betrayal? Is it fourteen words for betrayal (sigh), or is it betrayal+modifier01,

My personal headcanon? "Taking the obvious course" = "leaving an association that no longer benefits you" = "severing ties with an aiji whose association is counter to your interests" = "withdrawing man'chi from an aiji" = "betrayal".

I suspect there's probably a combination: three or four base words, say (betrayal-by-having-a-higher-man'chi, betrayal-by-self-interest, and betrayal-by-unexpected-development-with-no-prior-intent), and then modifiers for those depending on, oh, the difference in levels of man'chi involved (atevi are instinctive mathematicians), the severity of the damage done (from total destruction of the aiji's power to minor inconvenience), etc.

Aww, mecheiti screaming

It's silly, but like Bren I've become rather attached to Babs and Nokhada!

Re: thoughts and reactions, chapters 9-11

[cheyinka]

I was thinking .22LR or .17HMR, because I forget that airguns distinct from airsoft exist, haha. BB gun is equally plausible, for people who aren't me! :D

I like your headcanon on what "taking the obvious course" means. I still think that if there's a combination, the end result is still probably a favorable number, even if that means one of them is essentially meaningless, like "betrayal that doesn't actually harm anyone" or something. :D

Re: thoughts and reactions, chapters 9-11

[krait]

The end result is still probably a favorable number, even if that means one of them is essentially meaningless

There's probably an entire subset (words or modifiers, or both) dealing with sexual partners and married couples, which Bren wouldn't know due to atevi reticence on such things, so the numbers may well come out favourably. :D

Actually, the same could be said regarding parent/child relationships, since that's another area where atevi are exceedingly tight-lipped, and we know it involves some major shifts in man'chi over the course of the child's growth. Lots of potential for betrayals there!

Re: thoughts and reactions, chapters 9-11

[cheyinka]

That makes a lot of sense - even if he knows the words as of the latest book, he'd still probably say fourteen to other humans, since they shouldn't know, and I bet he might not even know them then!

Re: thoughts and reactions, chapters 9-11

[krait]

even if he knows the words as of the latest book, he'd still probably say fourteen to other humans

Right -- after all, one doesn't speak of such things in casual conversation (which is, frankly, all Bren HAS with humans by that point), so Bren's hardly going to be able to explain to them why he suddenly has some updates for the dictionary... :D

And you're right, he still may not know them -- after all, even if they're willing to talk to him about some taboo things, like the numbers of technology, they still may not be comfortable discussing their sex lives and the political ramifications thereof with an alien, even a polite one.