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Chapter Three Is Now Up
 
#26
"What is evil? I have seen evil, its cruelty, the randomness which it ravages innocent
and guilty alike. I have not understood it. I asked the Parliament of
Trees whose knowledge is older, greater than mine. They seemed to insist
that there was no evil. But I have seen evil and their answer was
incomprehensible to me. And yet…and yet, they spoke of aphids eating
leaves, bugs eating aphids, themselves finally devoured by the soil,
feeding the foliage. They asked where evil dwelled within this cycle and
told me to look to the soil. The black soil is rich in foul decay yet
glorious life springs from it. But however dazzling the flourishes of
life, in the end, all decays to the same black humus. Perhaps…perhaps
evil is the humus formed by virtue’s decay. And perhaps…perhaps it is
from that dark, sinister loam that virtue grows strongest?"
"The last truth is that there is no magic.”
"Tell me what 'there is no magic' means"
"Juggling is a trick. It is not magic. But if you don’t know how to do it, it looks like magic. That is why people toss coins to jugglers at the fair. When you can do it with one hand, you’ve learned something. And when you can do it without using your hands, you’ll understand."
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#27
Shouldn't ""The warning history shows, For our Hogwarts is in danger" be two separate lines?
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
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#28
Yes, you are correct. I left out a line break there.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#29
Well, that was fun.  I agree that it did seem short, but I don't mind chapters that lay the groundwork for future chapters.
I'm now starting to see Hufflepuff as kind of awesome, which is an impressive feat.  And the notion of Hufflepuff senpais was actually pretty good.
Is it bad that I thought of Fighteer during that section on the meaning of evil, and how evil always thinks it's correct?
And it's great to see Professor Vector being actually interesting, and potentially important to the plot.  Arithmancy is portrayed in canon as more of an obstacle for the heroes to get over, or as a thing that smart people are good at.  Which is pretty much the kind of impression that most writers have of their high school mathematics courses.  For those of us who are in STEM fields, it's hard imagine a world where mathematics is not important.  Especially one with rule-based magic, precise potions, and equivalent exchange sacrifice.  So it's nice to see her rehabilitated, and to have arithmancy as a resource rather than a hindrance to the heroes.
It turns out that "fiat lux" was the "Hello World!" spell for God too, more literally than is typical.
-- ∇×V
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#30
Don't tell anyone, Brent, but that's the final spell in the Octavo.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#31
On the meaning of evil...

SOMEONE needs to toss in a quote: "Only the Sith deal in absolutes."
Fits in perfectly with the "Evil is always more certain it's Good than Good is" thread.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
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#32
That's not a bad idea, and my inner troublemaker wants to give the line to Luna Lovegood.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#33
Quote:Bob Schroeck wrote:
That's not a bad idea, and my inner troublemaker wants to give the line to Luna Lovegood.
Well, she is the normal go-to girl for pop-culture references.  Tongue
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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#34
ECSNorway Wrote:On the meaning of evil...

SOMEONE needs to toss in a quote: "Only the Sith deal in absolutes."
Fits in perfectly with the "Evil is always more certain it's Good than Good is" thread.
With somebody else asking, "Isn't that an absolute?"
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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#35
I have to note, I love how Dougs intro lecture completely went over Dracos head.
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#36
Matrix Dragon Wrote:I have to note, I love how Dougs intro lecture completely went over Dracos head.

No, Draco was paying attention... but from his reaction, I think he took the wrong message away from it.
Quote:Harry shivered, and risked a glance across the classroom at Malfoy. The Slytherin was absolutely stock-still, his lips pressed into a tight line and his eyes narrowed. This, Harry thought, is going to be interesting.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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#37
Quote:robkelk wrote:
Quote:Matrix Dragon wrote:
I have to note, I love how Dougs intro lecture completely went over Dracos head.

No, Draco was paying attention... but from his reaction, I think he took the wrong message away from it.
Quote:Harry shivered, and risked a glance across the classroom at Malfoy. The Slytherin was absolutely stock-still, his lips pressed into a tight line and his eyes narrowed. This, Harry thought, is going to be interesting.
Depends on your definition of "wrong."  He accurately got that Doug is opposed to what Draco believes his family to stand for.  He didn't get that maybe he ought to reconsider his position.
I liked the touch that, without ever meeting the man, possibly without even having heard his name, Doug when portraying genuine evil did what was effectively an impression of Lucius Malfoy.  I have to wonder if Draco noted the likeness as clearly as Harry did.
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
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#38
Quote:I wince a little when I reread this, because I really can't envision Doug being enough at a loss for words to actually respond with "Surely you're not serious", but I so want to use the punchline for this scene. (And because, oddly enough, it sets up something for well down the road in the final chapter.)
I figured out how to make this work without wincing at it. It was quite simple...
As she stood there expectantly, the voice of Terry Jones floated
through my mind: "And that, my liege, is how we know the earth
to be banana-shaped." I valiantly resisted the urge to imitateGraham Chapman's follow-up and ask her how sheep's bladders couldbe used to prevent earthquakes. Gods help me, she might have hadan answer prepared! Instead, I decided to feed her a straightline, just to see what would happen. So I fixed her with a sterngaze and said, "Surely you're not serious."
She turned her wandering gaze more or less back to me, tilted herhead slowly, then replied, "Of course I'm not serious. StubbyBoardman is. And don't call me Shirley."
I resisted the urge to grin. Oh, she was good, and not half ascrazy as she made herself out to be. I could get to like MissLuna Lovegood, I could. Oh, yes, indeed.
The setup for the later thing... well, I realized over the weekend that as cool as the idea was, it introduced a plot hole a mile wide.  Basically, I had the idea that Doug could, thanks to his inadvertent connections with the Norns/Fates/etc., change Names.  He would declare that since they couldn't have two Looneys in Hogwarts and he clearly had seniority, Luna would just have to become "Shirley".  And suddenly everyone's calling her Shirley instead of "Loony", because "well, that's her name, innit?"  And the payoff would have been telling Bellatrix Lestrange in the middle of combat that she was no Warrior (bellatrix=female warrior), and stripping that name from her without really being aware he's doing it, leaving her memory forever associated with the insulting nickname he gives her.
But then my inner editor, after musing on this for months, said, "Well, then, why isn't everyone -- including Lord Voldemort himself -- calling Voldemort 'Lord Emo' now?"
And that sank that idea.
Still going to do the Shirley and Bellatrix things, though.  Just without the 100-monkeys auto-renaming effect.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#39
Has anybody actually heard Doug refer to Voldemort as 'Lord Emo' or equivelant? I Do Names have to be spoken aloud to change, or does someone else have to hear them being spoken aloud or start repeating the idea to catch on to the meme?
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
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#40
If I'm not mistaken, Doug uses "Flight of Emo" to refer to Voldie during his job interview with Dumbledore... I think.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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#41
Quote:Bob Schroeck wrote: As she stood there expectantly, the voice of Terry Jones floated
through my mind: "And that, my liege, is how we know the earth
to be banana-shaped." I valiantly resisted the urge to imitateGraham Chapman's follow-up and ask her how sheep's bladders couldbe used to prevent earthquakes. Gods help me, she might have hadan answer prepared! Instead, I decided to feed her a straightline, just to see what would happen. So I fixed her with a sterngaze and said, "Surely you're not serious."
She turned her wandering gaze more or less back to me, tilted herhead slowly, then replied, "Of course I'm not serious. StubbyBoardman is. And don't call me Shirley."
I resisted the urge to grin. Oh, she was good, and not half ascrazy as she made herself out to be. I could get to like MissLuna Lovegood, I could. Oh, yes, indeed.
I have to "Aaaarrgh" about this one, because I'd been considering throwing in a line Doug could've followed up with, something to the effect that in view of Luna having set that up so perfectly, he was giving thus-and-so-many points to Ravenclaw.  Only I wussed out and didn't post it, and now you've gone in more or less the same direction.  Aaaarrgh.
Quote:And suddenly everyone's calling her Shirley instead of "Loony", because "well, that's her name, innit?"
Alternatively you could stick her with the name "Osaka."  Which, come to think of it, has a certain appropriateness....
Tomo:  Hey everybody!  From now on Ayumu is Osaka, OK?
Classmates:  OK!  Sure!  Roger!
Ayumu (who'd just got done saying that nicknaming her "Osaka" was the stupidest thing she'd ever heard):  Oh ... my ... Gawd...
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
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#42
Quote:Dartz wrote:
Has anybody actually heard Doug refer to Voldemort as 'Lord Emo' or equivelant?
From Chapter 3, about 2/5 of the way through:
Quote:The real kicker was how the whole conflict ended.  In an incident
that was so unreal as to be practically mythic, Flight-of-Emo
basically nuked himself.  On Halloween 1981, he went after a
family who had gone into hiding, killed the parents, and then got
taken out by an unprecedented magical backfire when he tried to
kill their toddler with a no-miss, no-fail death ray spell.  Of
course, because Voldemort had his death-avoidance plan in play --
Albus was pretty sure Lord Emo had used partial soul anchors and
had made at least two -- he didn't die from this, but Wizarding
Britain didn't know (and didn't *want* to know) that.  His body
got vaped by the backlash and he ended up discorporated in the
usual manner for those with partial anchors, neatly terminating
(for the moment) his campaign, his threat, and his ability to
scratch his butt.
(bold for this post only) To my surprise, that is the first (and only, so far) place Doug refers to him as "Lord Emo".  I guess I've been thinking so far ahead I'd forgotten he hadn't actually started calling him that in conversation with others yet.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#43
I have to say that "Flight-of-Emo" sounds like this horrible cover band that only does Flock of Seagulls and Cure songs. But that's just my brain; it goes odd places sometimes.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
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#44
I may well steal that line, Ebony; it sounds like something Doug might say...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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#45
Quote:Bob Schroeck wrote:
I may well steal that line, Ebony; it sounds like something Doug might say...
Feel free! Smile
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
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#46
Is it wrong that I'm kinda hoping that the whole 'mocking the name' thing comes back to bite Doug? The man is an extremely skilled wizard, after all, and the name does contain his ultimate goal: to escape from death. Plus, in a meta sense, the whole 'come up with a mocking nickname for Voldemort' is something of a cliche, and I seem to recall that this step was meant to play with or avoid such cliches.

Also, what would happen if someone, say, Voldemort, were to cast Silencio on Doug's helmet?
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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#47
Jorlem Wrote:...
Also, what would happen if someone, say, Voldemort, were to cast Silencio on Doug's helmet?
That would be very inconvenient - for Doug.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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#48
Quote:robkelk wrote:
Quote:Jorlem wrote:
...
Also, what would happen if someone, say, Voldemort, were to cast Silencio on Doug's helmet?
That would be very inconvenient - for Doug.
Only moderately so. He's still have his protective aura, superhuman physique, exceptional martial arts skill and divine weapon.
----------------------------------------------------

"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV
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#49
Quote:Shepherd wrote:
Quote:robkelk wrote:
Quote:Jorlem wrote:
...
Also, what would happen if someone, say, Voldemort, were to cast Silencio on Doug's helmet?
That would be very inconvenient - for Doug.
Only moderately so. He's still have his protective aura, superhuman physique, exceptional martial arts skill and divine weapon.
Which does bring up the question: What effect is his aura likely to have on spells that target him?
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#50
Quote:Which does bring up the question: What effect is his aura likely to have on spells that target him?
The same effect it has on anything else that targets him, good or bad.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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