Into Silence - Chapters 3 & 4

[tehta]

Comments on the last few pages, finally...

174: The way the cleaning crew reacts to the train's arrival suggests that roof removal is NOT an everyday occurence. Just like the announcer said! But I am more intrigued by Minna's note that Lalli could not have done anything during the fight, as we will later see him do plenty during fights, also with magic. (Although I guess that he tends to use his shiny disk spell; maybe he doesn't know it yet?)
175: Medical cats! And the first appearance of Lalli's boots, inspiring this exchange in the comments:
Emil: "And i almost suffocated Lalli."
Tuuri: "Wait, what?"
Emil: "...and you know what ? I think he didn't like it. I feel a bit depressed now."
Tuuri: "Judging by those boots, he did like it, and tries to go hardcore. *sniff* My little cousin, all grown up. You think they sell whips in Denmark...?"
Oh, and some comments from Minna about how the Rash doesn't live outside the host for very long, prompting questions as to why there was any decontamination in Mora. (Unanswered.)
176: We finally meet Sigrun and Mikkel. Cue many discussions of Mikkel's likely personality (no fun, big softie, stoic...) and also declarations of shipping.
177: Just an awesome pic.

[Jitter]

Just a few random comments left for chapter 3. The number of comments has now topped what is even theoretically possible for me to keep up, but I’ll try to check the best comments nevertheless.

But. Firstly, I have previously totally failed to appreciate the full awesomeness of the train cats. On page 169 they are full on claw and tooth (ewwww) on the impossbly large giant. They only freak out on p 169 when the sudden splort causes them to fall from considerable height. Also one of the train guards is high up and looks about to get eaten (see boot on the right on page 169). Considering that their injuries seem surprisingly minor. And the medical cats in p 175 have a cat-sized stretcher in case there were catsualties. Luckily not needed!

Another thing I don’t recall having paid attention to earlier is the awesome gruesomeness (of one of the) giant’s head at the bottom of 168. So many great details!

The other passengers (the two immune men we see here) seem remarkably unfazed. I’m sure it doesn’t usually get as bad as this, but still it seems like it’s not quite as unheard of as the train line would like people to think.

I have to wonder what Lalli thinks of all this. At the time of original reading we didn’t know how (much more) competent he is in comparison to Emil at this point. But it seems he doesn’t mind too much, based on the hair sparkalyzer he pulls on p 172. I have to assume the Ship-o-Meter in the comments reads over 9000 in the comments Although during the fight even Lalli does look worried. We don’t know of course whether he’s worried about the situation or just that he doesn’t have his weapons and also hindered by a clingy Swede. Except on p 170 where he seems to be gesturing “safeword safeword”. Corraborating the ideas tehta mentioned below from comments on 175

Finally, does anyone have any suggestions what the symbols on panel 3 of p 174 are? They very much look like the Swedish Cleansers’ symbol, but this is Danish territory? Although the train is Swedish, could they also have the duty to arrange the contamination?

[dmeck7755]

But. Firstly, I have previously totally failed to appreciate the full awesomeness of the train cats.

They are awesome.  You have to pay attention or you could miss them.
Also Someone commented that the troll on page 170 had earrings and a bracelet on. I totally missed that and it is so much sadder when tyou realize they were people...

P 180
Emil making friends and influencing people again (LOL)
Lalli tugging at his boots.  Considering they *are* snug
P182
Poor Lalli He looks like WTF did i get myself into...or rather Tuuri got him into..
p183-184
Admiral Olsen..no secret gets by him..Nor will it be a secret..

[JoB]

Finally, does anyone have any suggestions what the symbols on panel 3 of p 174 are?

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm unter the impression that those "columns" are actually transparent cylinders with a liquid and its surface level visible inside; Considering the amounts they promptly spritz from their fire hoses, my guess would be the disinfectant/decontamination liquid to clean the train's outsides.

In fact, in the last panel, we seem to see their hoses connected directly to the sides of one such "column"; the shape of their base is quite distinctive.

So, basically a "some special liquid stored here" symbol.

[Jitter]

JoB, you are right! I didn’t notice the hoses.

I assume however that it’s some other liquid than what Emil is going giddy over on p 190 (which also has a similar symbol)

[JoB]

I assume however that it’s some other liquid than what Emil is going giddy over on p 190 (which also has a similar symbol)

Or maybe, after his cleanser training, he thinks that any carefully marked "special liquid" should either go into his flamethrower, or, even better, promptly blow it to pieces.

[dmeck7755]

JoB, you are right! I didn’t notice the hoses.

I assume however that it’s some other liquid than what Emil is going giddy over on p 190 (which also has a similar symbol)

They are similar.  It would be a funny/sad story people mixing them up.  Especially any person who is color blind. 

The image is red and looks like fire p190

The image is blue and looks like water P174


The holding containers are different... Though some kind of accelerant would be a liquid also

[tehta]

Clearly, these signs were designed by a descendant of the person who designed the icons for Google mail, drive, home, etc, using the philosophy that all icons must be alike.

And I had forgotten about Emil's excitement at finding out that he wouldn't be without fiery supplies, after all!

[Jitter]

Chapter four opens with introductions. We learn a lot about Sigrun and Mikkel both in these first pages. And so does poor Lalli. Lalli is also introduced to the Boots, which seem to be giving him some trouble in the beginning. I certainly wouldn’t be comfortable in such boots!

Interesting observation, Mikkel is not listed as military at all in his character box. I have all the time been thinking he is, among his other trades, also somehow affiliated with the Danish and / or Norwegian military. I suppose it’s because Torb says on p 181 that Sig and Mik will be “your superiors”. When I stop to think about it, this is not a military mission, but it works like it were. They even call Reynir a civilian, which seems to indicate they think of the team as not civilians. How’s this work?

Another response for military Mikkel is probably admiral Olsen and his mention of Mikkel having worked in the base. But of course there are civilian jobs too.

Speaking of Olsen, there’s a well remembered character. Admittedly, Adventure 1 doesn’t really have many side characters for obvious reasons (not human ones anyway) but still, the good admiral leaves a lasting impression in the few pages he has. Also he’s one of the few male characters with a proper Viking style. Really we should have more braided beards, don’t you think?

[thorny]

page 182: Mikkel feels entitled to physically grab somebody who obviously doesn't want to be touched, and force Lalli to shake hands with him. A lot of the comments seem to take it for granted that of course he's entitled to do this. Somewhat further down the comments I thought at first there were some people objecting to it -- but no, they're objecting to Sigrun's backslap, not to the forced handshake or to Mikkel's grabbing and holding on to Lalli. In fact, they seem to be praising it.

I didn't read all the comments, and don't know whether anyone did object, later on.

page 186: anybody know where the forum page discussing Sigrun's giving nicknames (mentioned in the comments) is? The link in the comments is dead.

[tehta]

Yeah, many people seem to be praising Mikkel's handshake 'teaching moment', and saying that Lalli would appreciate being given such clear instructions! Hmm. I'd hate it.

Regarding Mikkel's textbox: I am guessing that it's just an oversight, since the boxes seem to contain both current and past professions (with the past being crossed out, in Emil's case) and I don't think Mikkel could have been so close to the failed invasion if he wasn't military at some point? My half-baked theory was that he is ex-military, and that, yes, the team is supposed to act like a military unit; Sigrun certainly seems to think she is in command. This doesn't seem crazy to me. Don't some organizations like the police also have a chain of command?

One thing I find interesting: the command Sigrun sees herself giving when the team comes across a troll is "run away" not "kill it dead". But, overall, the way she reacts upon meeting Lalli is not entirely stupid--she notices the real issue with his language skills immediately--so I don't know why people in the comments refer to her as an idiot. Perhaps because it's weird that she hasn't read her crew's personel files (while Mikkel clearly has).

I would very much like to hear Lalli's honest reply to "what's life like for you", though. Or, actually, anybody's.

[JoB]

One thing I find interesting: the command Sigrun sees herself giving when the team comes across a troll is "run away" not "kill it dead".

Hmmm, not necessarily, I think. It's the command she'd need everyone present to understand at once and react accordingly; "kill it" is either rather self-evident (when it is already attacking/defending) or only moderately time-critical (when you still need to sneak up to it in the first place).

Of course, in a real "run away" situation, the message you really want understood at once might be in which direction to run; not everyone might be aware of all the trolls that suddenly popped up and block some of them, and splitting the party is infamously a no-no.

[dmeck7755]

....and page 187-188 Where Emil throws the mirror.  It hit The warehouse worker person on the head.  The manifests get mixed up, and they have candles instead of food...

Plus in the comments section a lot of people think Reynir is in one of those boxes....not yet (heh heh)

[thorny]

Oh, is that what the mixup is! It makes more sense for me to have forgotten it, now.

That's right -- the box Reynir shows up in comes later, and it's because they realized they were short on food and tried to order more. Did get some of it along with Reynir, IIRC.

They get uniforms, which does seem military -- but it really isn't clear to me how this would come under the military, or what chain of command would be above Sigrun and Mikkel. Maybe the society is so militarized, due to the drastic need for defense, that they just automatically organize most things in a very similar fashion?

[Jitter]

As all official members of the team (with the possible exception of Mikkel as just discussed) are military personnel immediately transferring from their previous postings, it would probably be quite natural for them to fall into the chain of command without much question.

We don’t know anything about the relationship between the Nordic Council and the military forces of various nations but it’s not a formally formed joint forces mission because at least Tuuri and Lalli quit their jobs instead of getting a transfer. Sigrun was more or less sent on the job by the Generals Eide but not in a very official capacity.

Maybe Mikkel was blackmailed or otherwise wrangled by Trond to go along with the local chain of command and the kids just fell into file without even stopping to consider it. When Tuuri and Reynir followed Mikkel Tuuri was clearly thinking she’s disobeying and didn’t even try to go for “you can’t actually tell me what to do”.