The Heart's Landscape, ch. 5

[tocryabout]

Chapter 5, "The Darkest Midnight", is completed. Featuring! Walter Langkowski, the return of the long-suffering Professor, Christmas goose, burst capillaries, and Clare of Assisi.

Words not recognised by OpenOffice's spellcheck:
chav
personalism
dendrobranchiate
tardery
mémère
Adeste Fideles

[Read from the beginning]

Comments

[youngest-one.livejournal.com]

You have no idea how happy this update made me.

Prawn is...interesting, even when he's being a dick. I'm curious about both his past - how did he wind up homeless in Canada in the first place? - and what exactly his powers are. Paul's reaction to the news that they're trying to recruit him seems to indicate that he can do more than transmit radio waves.

Speaking of Paul and Joel, their interactions just keep getting better and better. I love the way Paul's slightly manic joy and fierce honesty react with Joel's idealism and avoidance. Also -

"Good. Step into the kitchen as I tell you about my mushroom needs."

Oh, Paul. You're slightly batshit, but I love you anyway.

Joel's gift to Prawn left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I wanted to smack him. Is it really that vital to keep him out of Department H? On the other hand, the government's policy has been getting worse towards mutants, and I can understand a little paranoia at the thought of what they might do with mutant operatives. The comparisons to the X-men were interesting. And Charles! His conversation with Joel was sweet, with just the right amount of compassion and questioning. I do think, though, that there's more going on than Xavier believes.

Can't wait to see where you take the Department storyline. Joel's going to have to stay in the Aphanes a lot to be able to spy on them, and I can't shake the feeling that that's going to be bad for his health.

[to-cry-about.livejournal.com]

The amazing origin of King Prawn! There are a couple of hints in ch. 3 about Prawn's powers. If you know what radio waves are, you can probably guess. But I'll be getting to that bit in due time.

A theology student in discernment with a family fortune is a recipe for financial disaster anyway. Joel pays off Prawn for more or less the same reason that he refuses to work for Dept H in the first place. (If you've read Morley Callaghan's Such Is My Beloved, it's the same principle.)

And yes, Paul is slightly batshit. I have way too much fun with him and Prawn.

[youngest-one.livejournal.com]

The amazing origin of King Prawn!

Coming soon to an internet near you!

Hmm. Radio waves. I'm guessing it has something to do with electormagnetism, since they're on the same scale of wavelength as light and magnetism. That's about as much as I can guess, though.

So he's trying to save Prawn and Aurora from military service? I can see that being a good thing, if someone was only joining the army or Secret Service or whatever for want of cash.

[to-cry-about.livejournal.com]

He's trying to persuade them not to join an organisation that uses violence, yes. This is stated pretty explicitly in the chapter, but perhaps it's worth mentioning that Joel fully believes in the nonviolence of Dorothy Day and Daniel Berrigan; he's not just using it as an excuse to throw at Department H. He thinks it's worth thousands of dollars to keep a friend from doing violence, so he pays up. There was never any other option for a character like that.