Happy Memorial Day! I decided to update a little early just for all of you lovely people!
We’re going Back to the Caverns! Michelle’s seen this part before but she’s still all “wowzers” about it.
Happy Memorial Day! I decided to update a little early just for all of you lovely people!
We’re going Back to the Caverns! Michelle’s seen this part before but she’s still all “wowzers” about it.
50 Comments
Ravi is so *delighted* about everything. I can’t dislike him.
He’s like a Disney Princess! Curious and gleeful and full of love for life.
Someone should draw him in a dress!
He’s already wearing a mundu skirt, haha. That, and the pink shirt fit the bill. But I would second the motion for a proper Disney Princess dress!
He’s already kind of in a dress!
I think that was the joke, lol
I have the opposite problem. I can’t like him because he always seems so damn chipper about everything, despite whether or not it’s appropriate.
You’re not alone in that sentiment, PJ.
From his appearance and actions, so far in Illumination, I can understand some of why Jim could not deal with Ravi.
It looks like James Finn is grinding his teeth a bit, too. I guess his politeness levels are well above average.
Trained during a long time under the same roof as Mary?
Or just the traditional British stiff upper lip?
The stiffness of his upper lip is also well above average.
There are, believe it or not, people who are like that in real life… at least some of the time. (Check out the Wikipedia entry on Hypomania.)
Of course, Ravi is like this all the time, but he’s not human, so we don’t know if this is common to the Yaksha in general, or if this is even an actual disorder… it could all just be part of a carefully-crafted demeanor.
(I can see where a member of a powerful race, especially one whose powers or overall level of power inspires distrust or fear, would craft a charming persona to counter-balance the fear.
And really, if they knew enough about Yaksha, I would be surprised if they weren’t afraid of him, at least a little. Depending on which of the stories you read, Yaksha were only one step down from gods.)
Good ghost dog owner. :D
I love Martha and her casual partial manifestation and co-incidence with what- or who-ever!
Wait, how did her collar go through Ravi?
She might have just swung her rear end through him when she jumped up. After all, she’s having to scratch at the door because she can’t just run through it.
More likely she can just run through it, but has been trained so she won’t just go through it without getting permission from one of the Finns.
While her ghost body could, her collar cannot.
Page 2, of this chapter, as she reforms following being verbally scolded by James, makes this clear.
Good point. I forgot about that little detail.
At least in panel 4, it looks like her collar could possibly pass *under* the door …
(And now I imagine how the *less* rustic doors in the mansion might be outfitted to allow her access … Weirdest. Pet flaps. Evar!)
I think you’re right. I’m guessing that she’s developed the habit of navigating for just her collar, as her only solid “part”, casually making what would be a side-swipe maneuver if she were solid. She only solidifies for affection (or door-scratching).
I appreciate that ghost dogs are relatively easy to clean up after.
I’d have to disagree, based on the situation this chapter opened up with…
Would hate to see the kinda mess she’d makes if someone were setting fireworks off nearby.
The Caves of Merseyside. One of my favorite classic Doctor Who episodes.
you know, I want to see Michelle try seeing in the dark now
We have a couple of times: when she was taken to the dragon’s cave, and the Halloween chapter where they met Myra at the corn maize. When she’s using her night vision, her eyes are slightly illuminated.
I love the little background detail there of the melted wax… nice touch!
So that’s what a few centuries of worth of melted candles looks like. ;-p
Yay, I was right: the power switch for the caverns was off.
I just love the uncertainty that Michelle has about her own abilities, even the “natural” ones.
So it this parallel to the last chapter?
Yes.
The events over these past 3 pages, happen immediately after page 40 of chapter 1.
Martha walks straight through a living person, but scratches at the door to be let in.
Not to be let in, but to make it clear she wants to be included.
Those knife switches used to be common in the UK prior to the 1950s (although they did often have insulating covers on them), but nearly all of them had been replaced by the time of this chapter. I don’t see a fuse receptacle on it either, although that circuit might be fused at the main fusebox. I suppose if the Health and Safety people made it that far, they would be in trouble already. Also, maybe gryphons aren’t affected by electricity like humans are…
Lorne: See, the clip contact’s been bent outwards from use, an’ it’s all worn an’ arced… *casually bends live contacts back into shape with bare fingers, scrapes off arcing burns with file* You should prob’ly replace this with a proper two-pole switch, though.
James: Nah, it’s fine. I wouldn’t want to handle those live parts like that, though – the current makes m’ fingers tingle like all get out.
>:=)>
I’m glad someone reacted on the same thing I did. Gryphon tenacity or no, you may want to be careful with how you hanle that switch, James. Putting your palm all over it seems hardly ideal.
I pointed out just how dangerous James’ actions were, when Kory showed the initial pencils, over on Patreon.
Do you have to keep reminding us you’re in Patreon every other comment? I swear it’s like you’re looking for excuses to squeeze that into every conversation.
RCCG, Great Light Connections,Canary Wharf, …
So if the power was off, who lit all those candles before…
Electricity: They’re not really candles; they’re electrical lights made to look like candles.
No, the candles were absolutely lit before, the electric units/lamps/whatever are clearly above where the candles are.
Jim used to light the candles for date night atmosphere.
(You light them first and then turn off the electricity.) :-)
Ok I could see that, it just seems like a heck of a lot of work for one guy to do. What was Michelle doing all that time, lol.
Is it me or the fact I just can’t trust Ravi??
It’s not just you, Christine.
There’s a number of us here who have assorted misgivings about Ravi, due to his behaviour over the course of chapter 1 of Illumination.
He just seemed a bit over zealous to me. I know I wouldn’t like it if a person tried to be all over my person. I don’t even like it when a person gets less than a foot away from me, except for my husband, or my daughter. Ravi also seems to be hiding something…. Why doesn’t someone ask if he would show his “natural” form??
Looks like a lot of yaksha are really human-looking, so that might [i]be[/i] his actual form.
Well, Yaksha are guardian spirits. It’s hard to guard someone who runs away from you in fear… That’s assuming that his “natural” form is frightening. As egg says, it may be (mostly) human with an unusual skin color. It depends on which version of the Yaksha (there are several interpretations) that Kory decided to use.
Of course, there’s a darker version of the Yaksha, called the bhuta, that wanders the wilderness, eating unaware travelers. I don’t think Ravi is a bhuta. The point I’m getting to is that they’re usually benevolent.
I’ve linked a few images of statues of Yaksha below. The first five are the “temple guardian” version.
http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/images/3/3d/Yaksha_00.jpg
http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/images/7/7b/4.10.7yakhsa.jpg
http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/images/d/da/P1_46-3.jpg
http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/images/4/44/09_aksha.jpg
http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/images/8/89/Yaksha270.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Kubera%2C_the_God_of_Riches_LACMA_M.69.13.8_%286_of_9%29.jpg/800px-Kubera%2C_the_God_of_Riches_LACMA_M.69.13.8_%286_of_9%29.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/'Digambara_Yaksha_Sarvahna'_from_Karnataka%2C_India%2C_c._900%2C_Norton_Simon_Museum.JPG/800px-'Digambara_Yaksha_Sarvahna'_from_Karnataka%2C_India%2C_c._900%2C_Norton_Simon_Museum.JPG
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9e/Dvarapala_Yaksha.JPG/320px-Dvarapala_Yaksha.JPG
That last one looks a lot like Ravi to me.
I have a bad feeling something bad is going to happen to martha