Preparations - Prologue Y0 and chapters 1&2

[tehta]

Page 123: Siv explains that, in Mora, quarantine applies only if you've been wandering outside the safe areas, or if you want to enter the old heart of the city. Is the heart of Mora a safe area? It doesn't look like it on page 66. (Also, what's in that old heart? Does anyone live there? Do normal Mora residents have to quarantine before (re)entering there? Or just non-immune ones?)

I also liked the discussion on weather a few pages previously. I agree with Minna: just below zero is much nicer than just above zero.

[tehta]

I take back my questions after reading ahead to page 127.  Still, I had (clearly) completely forgotten that Siv and Torb don't actually live in Mora proper, but in its (slightly) more dangerous suburb.

I also found the answer to where Emil came from, on the train! http://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=124#comment-1439370270
(tl;dr, he came from where he was deployed, which was north of Mora.)

[JoB]

(Retyping the post from scratch for the SECOND time. Please bear with me ...)
Something's FUBARed with posting the complete edited post. I'll break part of it into a separate post ...

Also, I do not understand something.  Minna makes a comment about missing her laundry timeslot.  In Finland do you make appointments to access Laundry machines (If you do no have one of your own?)

IIRC Minna was living in Mora at the time, in a (loosely packed) "block" of mostly two-story four-apartment houses that, at the time, had common washers and driers (... or singular?) set up in sort of a shed, with a timetable (one week? several?) on the wall offering a handful slots every day. You would put your name into an empty slot, and thus have exclusive use of the machines in the corresponding timeframe.

Spoiler: Stalkertalk • show

... see next post, sorry ...

From there, she moved back to Finland, first to her parents' house, then into her first own(ed) one. AFAICT both "standalones", supposedly with their own sets of machinery, so no more laundry time bingo.

Is the heart of Mora a safe area? It doesn't look like it on page 66.

Well, not by the standards of Mr. Steingrímur Þórðarson, skald, maker of The Complete Map of the Known World, and possibly an Icelander, obviously. Of whom the Swedes probably had never even heard when they designed their system of grades of safety and perimeter check procedures.

I agree with Minna: just below zero is much nicer than just above zero.

[agreed (Celsius) / disagree (Fahrenheit) / agreed FOR SCIENCE! (Kelvin)}

[JoB]

Something's FUBARed with posting the complete edited post. I'll break part of it into a separate post ...

... namely, the

Spoiler: Stalkertalk • show

When she first posted about the ARtD books' delivery from the printers, she said that she planned to have them sent there, and solo carry and stack them up in(to) her upper-floor apartment - having had first-hand experience with professional "curbside delivery" of palettes, and an idea of what the max load of (upper) floors in residential buildings can be, I did a bit of sleuthing, in case things would turn as bad as I feared. Also note that the block was behind a residents-only barrier back then and Minna did not own a car, so even if the arrival of the books could have been handled as "eh, just like someone moving in", having them sent back out in lotsa individual packets would have been even more of a problem.

[tehta]

Regarding the laundry thing: a shared laundry room in each building is the NORMAL way to handle this in Zurich, even in some rather swanky buildings. And many of them have either signups or pre-assigned slots, and certainly rules about not using the machine during 'quiet time'. (Note: some buildings also have rules about not taking showers during 'quiet time'.)

In general, however, I can't stop thinking about 'the heart of Mora'. Who lives there? What do they do for work? It looks like rather diverse jobs like Siv's and Torb's take place outside (they can't be quarantining when they go to work!), and overall 'outer Mora' seems like a pretty sophisticated place. Maybe that's where Sweden's technological industry is located?

[dmeck7755]

[agreed (Celsius) / disagree (Fahrenheit) / agreed FOR SCIENCE! (Kelvin)}

True just above zero and just below zero in Fahrenheit is not a lot different.  it is just really cold...

In Kelvin zero is as low as you go...

Plus I like the idea of allowed times for laundry..way better than the haphazard way when I lived in an apartment

[Jitter]

Hello guys, I’m back! Will try to comment a bit soon.

I put in a catch up week in the schedul like Tehta suggested earlier, it’s after next week to coincide with the chapter break.

I hope I’ll have more time from now on. It’s either that or a burnout so here’s hoping! At least now I have 2 full weeks of vacation.

[dmeck7755]

Hello guys, I’m back! Will try to comment a bit soon.

I put in a catch up week in the schedul like Tehta suggested earlier, it’s after next week to coincide with the chapter break.

I hope I’ll have more time from now on. It’s either that or a burnout so here’s hoping! At least now I have 2 full weeks of vacation.

Please take care....No burnout please!!

I hope you have a great vacation..(and going someplace cool!)

[Jitter]

P111 - let the shipping being! Someone asked whether there will be romantic subplots in SSSS and Minna answered that she didn’t know at that point. On the other hand she also said that if she were to write romance, it would probably be indistinguishable from friendship “so you wouldn’t even notice”.

Immediately under this speculation on Emil/Lalli starts (Solovei mentioned them “mostly as a joke”… sure thing, pal!) and people stating they don’t mind shipping as long as it doesn’t get everywhere. I foresee some Further Discussion about this later.

 

[dmeck7755]

It is funny looking at the "Mora" pages.  (page 131) Emil's aunt and uncle (even though they claim poor.) have a very large house and can pay for a sitter.  (Though they may give up something to allow that. I do not think so).   Plus that radio set-up is really fancy

You also get the feeling that Tuuri is not so innocent as she is first portrayed.  (She is clever and very feisty!!)

Page 134 (is there a little bit of Loge in his eyes..or a blessing  )

This is really where I think Lalli is channeling the felines of the world.  He can nap anywhere.  (Just like my kitties!!)

[thorny]

-- page 129: that smoke rising from an island in the last panel -- foreshadowing? I don't think anybody picked up on it in the comments; though I may not have read them all.

   -- page 133; Eich in comments guessed that "Braidy's a stowaway"

   -- 137 has the explanation for why books are valuable: cleansers burn them, nobody's going ahead and rescuing books.
   Although Vivi has a long rant in the comments about this and other things that don't work about the premises underlying the story structure.


Emil's family might have had the large house before they became poor; or it might have been relatively cheap for reasons other than its size. But the fancy radio setup does seem to indicate that they're spending money on at least some non-essentials -- or was that paid for by expedition funds, and is it essential for the expedition? They do communicate by radio later on -- and probably couldn't have been picked up without it.

Also, "poor" is a relative term. Presuming they were really rich before, they may think they're poor now when we might think they're just middle class.

-- I also noticed Emil's eyes in that panel on page 134. Makes me wonder whether his disbelief was supposed to be blocking some actual power.
.

[JoB]

But the fancy radio setup does seem to indicate that they're spending money on at least some non-essentials -- or was that paid for by expedition funds, and is it essential for the expedition? They do communicate by radio later on -- and probably couldn't have been picked up without it.

Well, their intial radio contacts to the expedition were done from Öresundsbro Base, where they did stay for a while after the cat-tank left, so it's not like housing there apparently costs an arm and a leg. But there certainly is a bajillion possibilities why they could eventually need to have a radio of their own to keep in touch with the away team. Other than the plot requiring them to be someplace Onni can find them ...

Emil occasionally visits the Mora home HQ and was surprised at the room having a complete overhaul and the radio installed, so it's very probable that it was acquired specifically for the expedition's purposes.

[lwise]

Regarding Vivi's comments, I do have problems with the world-building as well, though I try to rationalize it.

With respect to population and occupations, my theory is that "academics" means anyone who doesn't directly raise food, so this would be people such as shopkeepers, weavers, and other town-folk.  It doesn't mean college professors or even students at any level.  "Military" means anyone paid to serve at least part time, though most of the time they may be working at something else.

With respect to Torborn's typing up books instead of someone typesetting the books, my best guess is that they have a lot more functioning manual typewriters than they do printing presses, and a lot more good typists than good typesetters.  So they retype books that are in poor shape, just as Mikkel had Tuuri retype the journal, rather than setting up to print them.  This gives them additional copies (which can be stored elsewhere in case of disasters or attacks by anti-science fanatics), and the books can be reprinted properly later.

[tehta]

I do think the smoke on page 129 is foreshadowing! While it's likely that Minna didn't have all the details worked out yet, smoke is a pretty clear marker of disaster (or, it could be a signal, as we have discussed elsewhere).

But hey, we skipped over page 127 and Emil's hairstyling, which led to several people in the comments making extremely shippy comments, like "they are now a canon couple to me". (OTOH, I also see a lot of Emil & Tuuri shipping. Like on page 135.)

Regarding Emil's family's wealth, as displayed on pages 130+:
-- Siv says the house is the last nice thing they own, so she knows it's nice.
-- Torb tells the nanny 'we'll sell some things and pay you more', which somewhat contradicts Siv (they do have some other sellable things!) but is in character for both of them. It also clarifies how they've been paying for stuff: by selling off the remnants of their old lavish lifestyle.
-- But, yeah, the radio was probably a necessity. While staying on a base for the duration might not be so expensive, paying someone to watch the twins would be. Also, it leaves them free to give the crew instructions about secret book salvage. At a base, they could be overheard.

Page 133: being in school until 17, like Emil, is unusual! Also someone is sad that Emil is imaginary.

Page 135: commenters guessing that Lalli will one day surprise Emil with magic. Oh yes he will.

Page 136&9: Emil sure is suspicious that Torb is trying to rip him off, isn't he? I wonder if there's a story there.  Also, regarding the books: I just had the thought that there should be copies of many possible books present in Iceland. Shouldn't there? Or did Icelanders eat/burn them during the first lean decades?

Page 138 - Sigrun in her first speaking role!

will continue later...

[dmeck7755]

But hey, we skipped over page 127 and Emil's hairstyling, which led to several people in the comments making extremely shippy comments, like "they are now a canon couple to me". (OTOH, I also see a lot of Emil & Tuuri shipping. Like on page 135.)

IDK about shipping, but Tuuri is a bright light.  I would think she is one of those people who can get along with everyone.  With her curious mind, she is earnestly interested in anything outside of her (abet small) circle.

Regarding Emil's family's wealth, as displayed on pages 130+:
-- Siv says the house is the last nice thing they own, so she knows it's nice.
-- Torb tells the nanny 'we'll sell some things and pay you more', which somewhat contradicts Siv (they do have some other sellable things!) but is in character for both of them. It also clarifies how they've been paying for stuff: by selling off the remnants of their old lavish lifestyle.
-- But, yeah, the radio was probably a necessity. While staying on a base for the duration might not be so expensive, paying someone to watch the twins would be. Also, it leaves them free to give the crew instructions about secret book salvage. At a base, they could be overheard.

This is very true, and i forgot the "book" adventure was clandestine.

Page 136&9: Emil sure is suspicious that Torb is trying to rip him off, isn't he? I wonder if there's a story there.

Definitely trying to rip off Emil.  (Evil Västerströms  and all that Muhhaha)