2007-03-01 Medical healer is not redundant!

[superluser]

Hmm.  Hennya seems to be acting rather sensibly here.  Maybe she just gets funny when discussing marriage.

It would happen to me.

[Aridas]

Nobody ever said it was *points to your title* because we have lots of specialists too. Just not so specially specialized.

[Zedd]

Someone throw the little mythos a bone...She might need a big shakedown

[Azlan]

I wonder if magical-based healers have HMOs...

[Ted Schiller]

It seems they never get sick.  If they did, May could just call the family doctor.

Never get sick?  Could it be that both Cid and May are cubi, but they didn't tell each other?

With regards,
Ted

[Stygian]

And I wonder who is going to give Hennya enough credit for being so calm while still being concerned. Also, note the closeness. This means we're probably not too many panels away from head-wing-exposery.

Don't know about the rest of you, or about the timing, but either way I think Amber nailed it pretty well here. Abel's story was becoming a bit too emo and in need of comic relief.

[superluser]

Nobody ever said it was *points to your title* because we have lots of specialists too. Just not so specially specialized.

Previously, on ERthis forum:

Under most Earth-based circumstances, I would call ``medical healer'' redundant, but I'm curious about here.  Would this be in opposition to, say, faith healers?

Considering the situation, and how distraught abel's mom must be at seeing her son apparently dismembered, I don't think that she meant anything specific by calling fro a medical healer.

Uggh. You are almost certainly over-analyzing that comment. "Medical" could imply that there was magic involved anyway since it's so integrated into a lot of things in their world.

Ooh!

and Maybe they have

Mental healers for psychology or shrinks...

Ding ding!  We have a winner.

Also: May's expression in panel 3 is AWE FREAKING SOME.  There are about ten different emotions expressed there.  Kudos.

And I wonder who is going to give Hennya any credit for being so calm while still being concerned.

Me?  I think I did.

Don't know about the rest of you, or about the timing, but either way I think Amber nailed it pretty well here. Abel's story was becoming a bit too emo and in need of comic relief.

Yup.

Prediction: Kria gets there before the healer.

Oh!  And is that a messenger orb in the last panel?  I don't think we've seen them before.

[Zorro]

The General Practitioner Specialist Class Healer.

Yep Modern problems in the Demon ruled lands.

PROBABLY where I would live, if I lived there.

[devilsislegrl]

i've been following a while but am just now posting...

1.  I think since Abel looks so much life May, that only she is the Cubi
2.  I think Hennya is a bit of a ditz and is more the comic relief...(i still like her tho)
3.  I agree, i think Kria will get there first and Abel's headwings will be revealed.

Question is, as an adventurer, how will Cid react?
When Abel starts talking again, I wonder if he'll ask Kria why she was there?

[Aridas]

1.  I think since Abel looks so much life May, that only she is the Cubi

Problem is, if you would've been watching the forums, you'd find out the exact opposite is more likely to be true ;P

[devilsislegrl]

tru, but the comic's not based on the forum, anything could happen...besides, i like to live in my own fantasy     

[Reese Tora]

Considering the situation, and how distraught abel's mom must be at seeing her son apparently dismembered, I don't think that she meant anything specific by calling fro a medical healer.

denonymized!

I can admit when I'm wrong, especially when I was just offering an alternate viewpoint for the sake of discussion.
(Then again, considering the spelling, maybe I shoulda kept my yap shut. )

Though now I'm curious what all the seventy types of specialized healers are. 

[LionHeart]

Judging from May's words in the last panel, there might even be a specialist who specialises in determining what sort of specialist you need.

[Zedd]

If those got a headache...I got a drill and plenty of washclothes that will clear that right up 

[Tapewolf]

tru, but the comic's not based on the forum, anything could happen...besides, i like to live in my own fantasy     

Well, it was Amber who said it.  Doesn't necessarily mean it's true in Abel's case, since she is very good at misdirection.   

I believe the generally accepted theory is that Abel's mother was May (and she is a Being) but his father was either Cid (and he is an Incubus) or Cid is a Being and Abel's father is an unknown incubus who disguised himself as Cid to conceive a child.
Remember, Abel has a hatred of 'Cubi who assume other people's identity.

On the succubus side, there is Cid's line about May not eating much.  That's not conclusive since people tend to eat less with age.  May has inlaws in Zinvth, and Kria's observation that May could do magic is interesting as well - she may have turned down Kria's offer to learn it herself because she is already a highly-skilled succubus who has decided to live among Beings for some reason.

While Amber's comment about Creature-Being hybrids seems to imply that May is the Being, the whole issue is so confused by now that it could go either way

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

tru, but the comic's not based on the forum, anything could happen...besides, i like to live in my own fantasy     

No, the comic isn't based on the forum - but the posts Aridas was referring to were by Amber, where she stated that Being/Creature interbreeds tended to look like the Being. I presume you accept that she might know more than you about where the comic is going and what she means? :-)

Oh, and welcome to the forum :-)

(Dammit, Tape! Let me finish typing and post, won't you? :-)

[Tapewolf]

Hennya seems to be a bit brighter than her previous lines have implied.  Nuts, I was kind of hoping she was dim for some reason.

Anyway, the idea of soul-damage changing Abel's physical appearance is a fascinating one (unless I misread it and she meant it could be the reason for his withdrawal).

[bill]

Judging from May's words in the last panel, there might even be a specialist who specialises in determining what sort of specialist you need.

Isn't that what a diagnostician does? 

[ShiningShadow]

Well in any case Kria will show at the door and the whole matter of the wings and headwings will come out. If I was May I will ask Kria what is she doing here and how Abel has that tailisman in his possesion. Questions and more questions till Kria either tells the truth or just leave not answering any of them. This story is getting so good I can't wait for the next one.

[Tapewolf]

Oh!  And is that a messenger orb in the last panel?  I don't think we've seen them before.

I was just about to make a similar observation, but I saw you got there first so I'll reply instead.

I think the orb is the thing she's holding, and the fishbowl thing on the desk is a communicator which the orb goes into.  The paper is presumably some Furrae equivalent of the Yellow Pages.

[Kibin]

tru, but the comic's not based on the forum, anything could happen...besides, i like to live in my own fantasy     

Well, it was Amber who said it.  Doesn't necessarily mean it's true in Abel's case, since she is very good at misdirection.   

I believe the generally accepted theory is that Abel's mother was May (and she is a Being) but his father was either Cid (and he is an Incubus) or Cid is a Being and Abel's father is an unknown incubus who disguised himself as Cid to conceive a child.
Remember, Abel has a hatred of 'Cubi who assume other people's identity.

On the succubus side, there is Cid's line about May not eating much.  That's not conclusive since people tend to eat less with age.  May has inlaws in Zinvth, and Kria's observation that May could do magic is interesting as well - she may have turned down Kria's offer to learn it herself because she is already a highly-skilled succubus who has decided to live among Beings for some reason.

While Amber's comment about Creature-Being hybrids seems to imply that May is the Being, the whole issue is so confused by now that it could go either way

Or it could be that BOTH of Abel's parents are cubi.

[Tapewolf]

Or it could be that BOTH of Abel's parents are cubi.

Oh yes, I forgot that one.  The idea of both parents pretending to be Beings so as not to frighten the other has a certain appeal, but won't explain why Abel spends 375 years being emo and hating shapeshifters, or why he hasn't tried to contact his parents.

Personally, I suspect they're both Beings and thus died centuries ago.  That Abel should utterly detest them to the point of breaking all ties seems unlikely given the love they've shown their son so far.

[Kibin]

Or it could be that BOTH of Abel's parents are cubi.

Oh yes, I forgot that one.  The idea of both parents pretending to be Beings so as not to frighten the other has a certain appeal, but won't explain why Abel spends 375 years being emo and hating shapeshifters, or why he hasn't tried to contact his parents.

Personally, I suspect they're both Beings and thus died centuries ago.  That Abel should utterly detest them to the point of breaking all ties seems unlikely given the love they've shown their son so far.

So two beings produce a cubi? Wha?

[Turnsky]

or it could be that there's 'cubi in abel's bloodline somewheres. i don't know about 'cubi genetics and whatnot, but surely some things can be passed down after one or two generations after lying dormant for so long..

just a thought, anywho.

[iownpants]

Just wanna say, Abel's hair looks really good when we can see a lot of it like that.  Since we almost never see characters from behind it's nice to get a good like.  I'd almost forgotten how awesome his hair is during this sequence.

Take that, speculation addicts! *saves the economy*

[Tapewolf]

So two beings produce a cubi? Wha?

No, I mean that Abel is a 'cuckoo', i.e. his real father was not Cid, but a 'cubi disguised as him.
It was in the longer post you quoted, actually 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Hennya seems to be a bit brighter than her previous lines have implied.  Nuts, I was kind of hoping she was dim for some reason.

My view is that the unattributed lines are pretty much -all- May, with May panicking. Which seems, if you'll forgive me, appropriate, given her and Hennya's reactions in this latest episode.

But then, we've been through that already... :-)

[superluser]

Remember, Abel has a hatred of 'Cubi who assume other people's identity.

Do we know that?  Last I knew, Abel just didn't like to change base forms for some unspecified reason.

Personally, I suspect they're both Beings and thus died centuries ago.  That Abel should utterly detest them to the point of breaking all ties seems unlikely given the love they've shown their son so far.

`Cubi do tend to get killed, though.  An adventurer group could have gotten to them, or they could have been killed as part of the intra-cubi violence that Fa'Lina is trying to stop.  I think she stopped it with SAIA alums, but there are sure to be non-SAIA `cubi still fighting.

In addition, Abel is on assignment, and you don't want your parents hanging around when you're working.  Finally, we've seen Abel for less than a week.  Maybe he is still in contact with his parent(s).

I agree, i think Kria will get there first and Abel's headwings will be revealed.

I disagree.  Abel's going to be relieved of the brooch in the next strip.  Kria won't show up until the one after that.

I think I started speculating on it, but what happens when Hennya touches the brooch?

Question is, as an adventurer, how will Cid react?
When Abel starts talking again, I wonder if he'll ask Kria why she was there?

I think that the absolute best would be if Cid meets Kria as she's going to their home.

``Hey!  Kria!  I haven't seen you in ages.  What have you been up to today? ... Really?  Listen, I'm just coming back from an adventure, and May's already supposed to be making a big dinner.  I'm sure that she wouldn't have any problem making another plate. ... Oh, really?''

[Tapewolf]

Remember, Abel has a hatred of 'Cubi who assume other people's identity.

Do we know that?  Last I knew, Abel just didn't like to change base forms for some unspecified reason.

We do.  From his cast page: "Abel has a severe dislike of Cubi who use their abilities to assume complete alternate identies."

`Cubi do tend to get killed, though.  An adventurer group could have gotten to them, or they could have been killed as part of the intra-cubi violence that Fa'Lina is trying to stop.  I think she stopped it with SAIA alums, but there are sure to be non-SAIA `cubi still fighting.

I think the big problem [the clan wars which SAIA was founded in response to] was 7k years ago and it petered out since then, but that's just a guess.

In addition, Abel is on assignment, and you don't want your parents hanging around when you're working.  Finally, we've seen Abel for less than a week.  Maybe he is still in contact with his parent(s).

He's put off leaving SAIA for decades or more, and put all his effort in being able to go it alone.  If he had a family to return to, I'm not sure he'd have done what he did.

**EDIT**
There's also his long depression.  If his family died (of old age or were slaughtered) while he was cooped up at SAIA, that could well do it.

[superluser]

From his cast page: "Abel has a severe dislike of Cubi who use their abilities to assume complete alternate identies."

I remember that!  Too bad I couldn't have remembered it earlier.

He's put off leaving SAIA for decades or more, and put all his effort in being able to go it alone.  If he had a family to return to, I'm not sure he'd have done what he did.

I'm not sure if that's true.  Abel was just completing SAIA, right?  He's about the age that Aaryanna was when she finished.  I'm not sure if he could leave, once he enrolled full time.

Plus, as I say, his parents might have been killed as part of the intra-cubi wars.

In fact... (aw, nerts!)

We know that Abel's clan is largely defunct, and does not have a leader.  They might have been one of the clans that refused to join Fa'Lina at SAIA, and may have been actually targeted for elimination.  What's more, his clan might have been the one that caused the wars.  It's unlikely that just one clan was responsible for the wars, but this explanation is a lot more fun.