With a feeling of trepidation, he took a delicate sip—
Light. Pure golden light burst upon his consciousness. The light one gets from a glorious clear sunrise at ten thousand meters in the sky with the fresh wind in your face. There was music—enlightening music—that filled his frame and made him want to dance and synchronize himself to its rhythms like a glorious symphony set to the tick of a metronome in tune with all of existence that gathered you in and showed you your place in the universe and how astonishing that it existed at all and how much more wondrous it was that you were there to appreciate its existence and realize that you were a part of it and that there was work to be done to make everything better and that you had an important part to play and that this was how it should be and you knew that nothing would ever be the same again because you now knew that the world and everything in it, all its glories and foibles, its madmen and saints, its agonies and its ecstasies, were necessary and that what we called “life” was how one surfed the edge of creation and that it was a glorious game and you were as good a player as anyone else and thus this moment and everything in it was—
“Perfect,” Van whispered, tears rolling down his face. A red-gold vision resolved itself in front of him. The Heterodyne. Of course it was she. Everything he was and that his family had been for generations recognized her as the thing that had been missing from his life and in that moment of realization he became forever and irrevocably hers.
The vision looked worried and languidly waved a hand before his face. “Does it taste okay?”
Expressions in panel two and the last panel? Tarvekian.
Smugly explaining that he has a plan and you’re going to fall right into his trap but not what it is? Oh yes.
“I am going to help you for my own reasons and you need me too much to get rid of me”? Yep.
Sounding kind of pretentious because he’s talking around the whole thing? Oh yes.
good lord, especially in panel two, that was a “eeeyep they’re related” moment
i can’t imagine tarvek appreciating the comparison, though it could end up as a very useful way to pull him up short when he’s getting too machiavellian. can you imagine? “hmm yep tweedle said something just like that the last time i saw him” “WHAT”
I have come to admit that I am powerless over my addiction to Girl Genius.
In particular, the Gil-Tarvek interaction is so wonderful, and has developed so interestingly over time. The comic introduced them as rivals for Agatha’s love, developed backstory in which they were childhood friends driven apart by politics, and has settled into a mutual affection offset by political rivalry, romantic rivalry, and force of habit. Each of them began by caring about the other’s well-being because Agatha would be upset by losing either of them. Now they’re cranky friends in their own light. They spar, but each of them recognizes the other’s skills and that the other puts Agatha’s well-being first. And *sob*! Gil hugged a revived Tarvek in pure joy.
I was going to say that Jägers appear to have a social structure
somewhere between an army and a wolf pack but, more accurately, they
have a social structure (and temperament) somewhere between an army and a
pack of hounds. Particularly scent hounds such as foxhounds or beagles.
Described in several breed standards as “merry”, they are amiable and
typically neither aggressive nor timid, although this depends on the
individual. They enjoy company, and although they may initially be
standoffish with strangers, they are easily won over.
Beagles are intelligent but, as a result of being bred for the long
chase, are single-minded and determined, which can make them hard to
train. They can be difficult to recall once they have picked up a scent,
and are easily distracted by smells around them. They do not generally
feature in obedience trials; while they are alert, respond well to
food-reward training, and are eager to please, they are easily bored or
distracted.
Beagles are excellent with children and this is one of the reasons they
have become popular family pets, but they are pack animals, and are
prone to separation anxiety,[44] a condition which causes them to destroy things when left unattended.
They want to please but don’t listen, hate being separated from the pack and, oh yes, yell when they’re on the trail of prey.
The bloodthirsty tendencies probably come from their human side – they were all already raiders – combined with newfound hunting instinct. When not on the hunt they’re usually friendly, if a bit indifferent to social mores.
They don’t hold position and meet the enemy, they engage to bring down prey, surrounding, harrying, wounding and then killing them. It’s easy to see why the word “jägers” would be applied to them. Even when engaged with a larger group Oggie’s trick allows the Jägers to be the ones attacking from all sides. They have to be very outnumbered to fight on the defensive.
Like hounds they lack discipline when on the chase and very nearly the entire pack runs out of Mechanicsburg after a retreating army. They call each other onto a trail with the famous “ve hunt” and, while it might be a side effect of being detached and therefore unranked, Dimo, Oggie and Maxim can all equally call one another into a fight.
In some ways anyone using a pack of Jägers has to be a huntmaster as much as a commander. Jägers aren’t stupid and they don’t need to be treated like animals, but they are easily distracted and get caught up in things. Gil, at a point where he’s not used to being the heir to the Empire, fails to give clear instructions or command attention.
Then again, hounds, by training and instinct, respond to humans. Jägers, by training and instinct, respond to Heterodynes. They’re all much more attentive around Agatha.
The best parts about todays (9/30/16) is that not only does Dimo have the eye of a fucking tailor, but the fact that Heterodyne Ham is an actual turn of phrase.
You don’t understand, what if big butts runs in the family just as thickly as the fucking madness and the humming. Just imagine you’re being invaded by a army of monsters and like their master turns around and you can’t help but notice that “Damn, he thick”
Jaegers that stand behind the Heterodyne most of the time anyway, being physically unable to not notice that their master’s have lots of cushion for the pushing’
And the best part is that most heterodynes have been men.
Alos, i love how heterodynes, even female heterodynes, apparently don’t even ping on the sexy scale for jaegers. I mean look at that booty fan service, and he’s just judging the size of the pants! If her lovers were there they would have been struck dumb and unable to function.
*gigglesnort*
well, the jagers are in the best position to know what are individual quirks and what are fairly persistent bloodline traits, being immortal and all XD and in flashbacks, neither bill nor barry are exactly skinny, and barry especially packed it on once his high-energy adventuring days were past.
In an upcoming project clockworkdoodles and I are sort of co-oping on, it’s a slice of life of the Heterodynes in the modern age. What does that mean? Five hundred-something year-old Oggie.
I’m going off the idea that his horn will keep going, and a smaller one has begun to develop. Mismatched but why not? and of course, those spiked on his shoulders/elbows aren’t going anywhere but up
Aww, he looks so happy and shaggy and enormous. That’s adorable with the kids.
Honestly I would too. She’s been embarrassed every time someone saw her teeth for the last two hundred years, that is an excellent way to create a grudge.
(Although I’m now also kind of concerned. I mean I sure don’t think Jenka LET him pull her fangs out, which implies… not a great situation for her.)
What’s worse, facing the Jager you defanged or the Heterodyne who just found out about it?
Soon Andy will be able to answer that question.
He is and I am looking forward to it.
(Go figure it’s being mean to the ancient war criminal monster soldiers that makes me lose my sympathy for someone.)
(Heh, yeah, me too. But I bet he wouldn’t have ripped out the teeth of a human enemy.)
(Two weeks ago I’d have agreed with you, but Andy is… demonstrating some pretty low standards about how to treat opponents. Granted I still think he wouldn’t, but only because human teeth aren’t much use in a fight; more likely he’d cut off their hands and feet or something.)
(Okay, I guess the zombies imply not much is off the table… Disappointed in him and Bludtharst there.)
I am a bit, particularly in Andy since he has his whole ‘I can do what I want because I’m superior’ thing and I dislike hypocrisy. Not so much Bludtharst, since ‘turn them into zombies’ isn’t too far off from ‘kill them, then use the bodies to make new constructs to fight for me’ which the Heterodynes seem perfectly willing to do so long as they’re not doing it to their own people. I think they might avoid like… mind control of an enemy that’s still aware? But if the mind is gone, well, that’s a different thing entirely.
…Although now I do wish we’d seen the jagers’ reactions to the zombies.
Hmm, yes, I was thinking it was very similar to revenants, but it’s only close to the shamblers. I don’t know if they’re less bad but they are more undead and less mind-control.
I think Jenka just implied she wears the teeth of defeated enemied. It makes sense – everything else Jagers wear comes from defeated enemies, why should dentures be different?
I feel a bit less bad for her since she seems to have passed it along. Having your fangs removed is clearly a big deal for a Jager, but having your teeth removed BY a Jager is just traumatic for anyone!
Honestly my first thought was just general “you took my teeth so I’m going to take yours as revenge” but wearing teeth from defeated enemies would definitely fit with everything else jagers do….
It’s mostly that she says she’s got lots of nice teeth now, so apparently there’s a collection.
Cheloneuniverse 