OH DIRE NEW WORLD, THAT HAS SUCH PEOPLE IN IT!!

Kirakira Pretty Cure à la Mode - Episode 47
My Own Review:
OH DIRE NEW WORLD, THAT HAS SUCH PEOPLE IN IT!!

In the previous episode, Elysio created a new world that would be devoid of conflict... by simply removing all emotions, both positive and negative, from everyone. Not even PreCures could escape from that, but Pekorin and the Elder were able to hide inside the KiraPâti before the world changed, at the last minute before Elysio's spell.

As such, Pekorin and the Elder are the only ones who remember anything about the world before it changed. They find the others, all of them with Empty Eyes and wearing grey, muted uniforms (for the record, everyone in Ichigozaka has the same eyes, fixed expression, and style of grey uniform), and discover that they have no recollection of the recent events. The girls even threw away their transformation trinkets.

 

PEKORIN: Couldn't you sing a little, please?

AOI (coldly): What does singing mean?

 The same goes on with the other Cures and their tastes.

YUKARI: A tea ceremony? I do not know what that is.

 YUKARI: We threw those "transformation trinkets" away.

Even though the girls lose their memories of being Precures, Pekorin does what she can do-by creating her special donuts to try reawaken the girls again. Although Glaive tried to burn the donuts however Pekorin's feelings create not one but three Miracles.

Elysio watches everyone through his hall of mirrors.

Glaive erases feelings that cause conflict


This operation leaves the targets utterly emotionless.

Glaivestapo Emotion Control Force. 
The emblem replacing the swastika is an interdiction sign for kirakiraru sparkles.

An argument starts nearby. However, Glaive shows up (in a Nazi officer's uniform!!) and says that their feelings of hatred originally spring from love (daisuki), so he will erase those feelings. Whilst Glaive has his Putting-on-the-Reich minions check everyone for any residual emotions (including the others), Pekorin opens the KiraPâti and prepares some sweet treats.

Pekorin believes the others will regain their memories if they eat her doughnuts

Pekorin is keen to get some kirakiraru into the others, but Glaive puts a halt to that. He captures Pekorin and the Elder, and takes them to a waste disposal facility so they are forced to watch the doughnuts disposed of.

Before the doughnuts can be incinerated, there is, quite unexpectedly, an explosion which sends large dollops of cream flying for quite a distance.

The cream happens to fall near the others, and they all start to remember something. They all decide to go back to the waste disposal facility as well where they see that Pekorin has managed to save her doughnuts.

However, Glaive refuses to back down. He smacks Pekorin out of the air. She still refuses to give up, though.

Huh, actual violence

Being smacked out of the air and kicked across the room still isn’t enough to deter Pekorin, who still intends to fight. The kirakiraru of her doughnuts react to her desire, and she regains her human form once more. It doesn’t end there, however – she gains transformation trinkets of her own as well.

Taste and Sparkle...

Let's la mazemaze!

Cure Pekorin! Dekiagari!

The first of these miracles was the great big explosion which rained cream all over the town. (Which is a call back to the first episode of how the girls saw a similar explosion) It brought the girls together and saw the second Miracle-Because of Pekorin's determination to protect those feelings, she became Cure Pekorin and even got her own transformation sequence. 

Cure Pekorin

Pekorin gains the power of a PreCure, and transforms into Cure Pekorin. She is a newly transformed Cure, so she doesn’t quite have a handle on her powers yet. Her attacks miss, but they do end up becoming fireworks in the shape of the PreCures' respective sweets.

Of course, this results in the others regaining their senses, and being reunited with their transformation trinkets – which conveniently happen to be located in the same waste disposal facility.

Cure Pekorin is really adorable and even come with her own Candy rod. What does it shoot out? Whipped Cream! Very explosive Whipped Cream! Finally the whipped cream that Cure Pekorin fired create the final Miracle-it create fireworks which resemble the girls' various sweets which finally reawaken their memories!

The old PreCures are back, and with a new member

Our PreCures make quick work of Glaive and his minions, trapping them in a net. When they step outside, they come face to face with Elysio. He is pretty much told to prepare himself (WINTER IS COMING...).

This is where the episode ends; going to have to wait until next time to see how the battle against Elysio unfolds.

MY OWN HUMBLE OPINION:
Elysio is partially right, as all Well-Intentioned Extremists always are.
To quench all feelings, both positive and negative, as a way to erase conflict... that complete erasure of emotions makes up for an interesting thought experiment.
I was reminded of 1984 as I saw Elysio's dystopia. Aside from the obvious Third Reich parallels. We could talk about everything in between the mirror shards in The Snow Queen and the Imperius Curse. About the evils of free will. Remember that he used both the powers of Darkness and Light, of Noir and Lumière, to quench every feeling, positive or negative. The result is everyone and everything being stagnant... so is it worth it?
In that Hakkenden AU I had spoken of, the leader (Étienne, the Kenpachi character), who was pretty much the lovable eccentric and had a charming streak reminiscent of Gustavus Adolphus, is killed off at the end of the first arc and resurrected at the start of the next... He had left a sort of "last will and testament" that he wanted to be brought back from the dead using a method that would make him completely devoid of affect. I mean; there is even an affective dimension to potentially dangerous physiological threats such as pain, thirst... The result is Étienne becoming completely rational and inexpressive, devoid of any qualms, spending nearly all of his time in listless research, but putting his life in jeopardy time after time. Now, to become fully human, he needs to regain that affective dimension.
I am also brought back to a Snow Queen-like story I mentioned in the Advent calendar Reeling and Writhing, a few years ago:
The Stoics, enemies of the Epicureans and a great influence on totalitarianisms, said there were four passions to be shunned, and I think the strongest, and my personal favourite, is desire. To me, it has got a power that neither joy, grief, nor fear possess. Desire is the expectation of a future good, the wish for a future good. It can move mountains, start wars, lead to a signature at Runnymede, or to a victory at Breitenfeld, make an unusually intelligent princess meet her intellectual equal and become his partner, but also make a resented non-com betray the young lieutenant who "usurped" his commission. Yes, desire packs the most potent punch of all four passions, and it is also the source of positive emotions... but of disappointment, regret, ennui, fear of the inner emptiness... as well.
But... can a person bereft of emotions and passions be truly virtuous, or an empty shell? The case of Virginia and her guardian, from a literary tale by Josep Feliu i Codina (Belle Époque-era Spain) may illustrate the point: he made his ward, the orphaned only child of powerful nobles, emotionless, by replacing her seven-year-old heart with clockwork and keeping the heart in a jar. The reason why he has taken away her emotions: he wants to marry her to get a hold on her family fortune, and, when she reaches the age of consent, her guardian will be older than seventy. Virginia has grown up emotionless, indifferent to everything, into a beautiful yet callous and completely rational ice queen... until, thanks to some fairy magic, she is given a real heart during her adolescence, and she begins to see the beauty and the inspiration in the world around her: never were the flowers in her garden so colourful and so fragrant to her, never was the young man she met at the ball so dashing and so interesting... When her guardian finds out, he locks her away in a tower. And the now seventyish villain visits her and proposes to her every day, but she always rejects his advances. In the end, thinking that she rejected him because of his advanced age, the septuagenarian makes an unconscious wish for a younger heart... and realizes that he's already got one: his ward's child heart in a jar. So, obviously, our villain has his own heart replaced with Virginia's... and, suddenly, he transforms from a serious and realistic curmudgeon driven by ambition and greed... into a lovable eccentric with a lively and cheerful, quirky personality, who never denies himself any whim and completely lacks self-control. A seven-year-old heart has been transplanted into his seventyish chest, after all. No wonder that, after the literal change of heart, he sets Virginia free and lets her go with her suitor, giving them his blessing, when the young man promises his far older opponent a musical box for a present. Upstairs storms the guardian, with elation, as he opens the locked door and tells his ward, in a high-pitched voice, that she's free, adding: "I'll get a musical box!"


With that miracle of the eruption revived, the girls transformed again and even have a group pose with Cure Pekorin. They easily subdued Glaive and Elysio finally appeared. The final battle begins...

The Bad: Just that the battle with Glaive ended too fast once the girls got back their powers. Other than that, nothing much.

Elysio created a world without conflict by removing emotions specifically "Love (daisuki)." 

However it turned everyone into mindless drones. Without emotions or Will, (I am preaching Green Lantern's vow) nothing will move and the world will eventually reach a standstill. Creating a world without conflict is one thing but removing feelings like love or hate is a fate worse than death. 

Even Glaive who was revived is not the original Glaive but rather an empty shell controlled by Elysio. (But who cares about Glaive?! He is though and though a jerk from the beginning till his demise... Well, at least Elysio had good taste, the uniforms Glaive and his mooks wear being obviously Third-Reichy -so was the mook with the Hitler moustache some foreshadowing?-)

I was really cheering for Pekorin especially her determination to protect not just the donuts but rather the feelings and experiences she has with the girls. Sure, Glaive might call Pekorin a cheerleader. But remember, it was Pekorin that got the ball rolling since the first episode. Sure, she is one of the weaker mascots but her love and care for her friends (nakamatachi) gave her strength and created Three Miracles in this episode.

To get back on topic, not long now until the finale of KiraKira ☆ PreCure à la Mode. Next episode is the final battle...

IN NEXT EPISODE (48):

IT'S THE FINAL CONFRONTATION.

TO RAVISH THE SENSUOUS MIND

TO RAVISH THE SENSUOUS MIND

This verse is, like "Reeling and Writhing," a verse that has trapped me. Hooked me. Planning to use it some day as a title of some project. "To Ravish the Sensuous Mind:" it kind of captures my own impressionable and excitable personality.

REELING AND WRITHING XXIV: NOT TODAY!

REELING AND WRITHING
or,
Miss Dermark's 2015 Advent Calendar

DAY TWENTY-FOUR

NOT TODAY!

This Christmas's Westeros AU story

Twilight on the docks of King's Landing, a busy day of hustle and bustle, of sellers calling out their ware on the streets and sailors, both Westerosi and foreign, sauntering on and off the docks, as night falls and the stars appear.
Through the motley throng runs a young girl in rags, nimble as a stray cat, barefoot and with tangled dark hair. Both her skin and rags are filthy, and she leaves a trail of blood in her wake, from a glass shard she has trod on, and she still feels the pain. Once she had worn a dirty kerchief on her head, but a wistful breeze has carried it away. Once she had worn a belt, and a rapier thin and hard as a needle, to stick it into whoever stood in her way with the pointy end, but Lord Tywin's men have taken them away, saying that it is best for a child like her. In spite of all the suffering that she is going through, she is beautiful beneath the mess and the filth, yet she only cares for her own life.
She limps with her left foot, still sore and red from the pain that racks her from that point up to her narrow hips. And she carries bundles of liquorice roots in her dirty frock. Still as many as when she left, for no one has ever cared to buy her ware. Yet she won't give up, nimble yet limping, racked with pain and starving yet still young and able to move. She is reeling, yet still alive.
More stars appear in the night sky. The crews return to their ships, the landlubbers to their homes, and poor Arya has not earned a single copper half-penny. She runs as fast as she can, as if her feet had wings, in spite of the pain and the weakness. Dare she return to the orphanage? A twinge of fear has cut through her mind, like a summer storm. If she ever returns empty-handed, Lord Tywin's men will beat her. Or even do more terrible things to her, like they did to so many women and maidens during the war.
No, no, no. Never in her short life. She will live like a stray cat on the banks of the Blackwater tonight, feeding on some of the liquorice she hasn't been able to sell. But she'll save at least two thirds of her ware to try her luck the next day.
The pain is now too much for her. It extends at least to her chest, and throbs like a drum on the battlefield. Crouching in the shadow of a barrel by a shady tavern, she unties one of the bundles of liquorice and puts one of the roots to her lips. In the light that comes through the clouded window panes, she notices a silvery twinkle, which fills her steel-coloured eyes and her heart and her mind with joy as she swallows her first liquorice root, her first meal since the morning, and feels contented.
A silver stag on the ground, so close to her? The thought lights up Arya's mind and banishes all the demons to the depths of her subconscious. For a while, she feels that both her parents are still alive, and that she is in the warm and cozy, vast Great Hall of Winterfell. Picking up the twinkling piece into her filthy left hand, she sighs in disappointment. It is square, and its shine is more like that of steel or iron. A foreign coin, discarded for being as out of place on the streets of King's Landing as she is herself. Still, it might be of some use, by giving it as a gift to the cabin boy of some foreign ship the next day.
The shouts and songs of drunken crew members, in both the Common Tongue and Valyrian, echo from inside the tavern. The warmth of the scene indoors and the cheers of these unknown men cause Arya's mind to drift away. Slowly shutting her grey eyes, she suddenly finds herself well-dressed at a finely furnished supper table, in a Great Hall somewhere in the North. Her mother and father are there, Lord Ned and Lady Catelyn with their honest smiles, and so are Robb, Theon, and Jon Snow, talking older boys' things like warfare as Arya listens, sitting by her dark-haired and serious stepbrother's side. Next to Lady Mother sits Arya's older sister, the bronze-haired Sansa, cutting her roast with as much refinement and politeness as a court lady. Even though the little girl found her sister annoying and tiresome, now she misses Sansa more than ever, how ironic it might sound. The younger boys are sitting at the other end of the table, Old Nan, the nanny of Winterfell for generations, so elderly that her age was unknown to Arya and her life shrouded in mystery, is feeding Rickon, then still a baby. Healths go round, everyone sings, and glasses clink, and Arya is allowed to take more than just a sip of warm mulled Reach wine, which sears her throat and makes her feel all warm and cozy inside. Then the warmth under her waist turns to heat, to pain, to the worst of sufferings. To the pain in the wound tainted by the glass shard. The Great Hall and the loved ones have vanished into thin air, and she is still curled up beside a barrel outside a tavern on the banks of the dying Blackwater. Awakened, startled, frightened. What if only those happy days could return!
Taking up what is now her fourth liquorice root, Arya barely notices that she is holding her square coin in the same left hand. After a while, when she swallows, she notices that something hard and cold is falling down her throat. Looking among the bundles of liquorice, she tries to find her treasure in vain, to finally realize what she has done. No matter, she thinks, that coin is hard and tomorrow it will come out the other way.
No matter if her rapier has been taken by Lord Tywin's men, she needs no weapons to survive. Even if wasted sailors, in a fit of rage, lunge at her. Arya is quicker, and she will kick them where it hurts the most.
Weary and racked with pain, though still treasuring that faint hope, she looks up to the shred of sky above. A shooting star leaves a long trail of silvery fire. Feverishly struggling for her life, Arya quietly whispers to herself: "Someone is about to die."
According to Northern lore, whenever a star falls, it is to make place for the star that is the spirit of a new deceased person. Thus had Old Nan told her and the rest of her siblings the first time she saw one. Will the next star be Arya Stark? The pain begins to fade and her eyelids slowly close, and whom does she see before her eyes?
Now there is light all around her, and in the light stand the Seven Gods, bright and radiant, all of them except the hooded Stranger with such expressions of love. And the Mother is warm and auburn, with eyes like blue lakes, just like her own, Lady Catelyn, and the Father is stern and serious yet able to listen, with her own dark hair and eyes of steel like the Lord of Winterfell. The Warrior, tall and bold, with his hand on the hilt of his sheathed sword and bravery in his blue eyes, could as well be Robb, her eldest brother, the leader of her childhood games. The fire-haired and sapphire-eyed Maiden is lovely, sweet and demure, and she curtsies, just like her older sister Sansa. The sooty and sturdy Smith, his trusty sledgehammer in hand, is a bearded old craftsman in his sixties or seventies, confident and strong like Mikken in the forge of Winterfell: the one who made Arya's own Needle. And the Crone, the oldest and wisest of them all, with her silver hair and countless wrinkles, and those clever eyes, might as well be Old Nan, so full of lore and of tales. Only the Stranger's face is not seen, but hidden beneath the cowl of his raven-black cloak. Arya pictures herself a non-human face, like that of a wild beast, like the little she had seen of the Stranger's face in the sept of Winterfell.
The other gods suddenly make way for the Stranger as Arya shudders. The male gods to the right, the goddesses to the left, and the ominous hooded figure slowly advances towards the little one. Could this mean that the Stranger is coming for her? Is she going to die tonight? "Valar morghulis," everyone must die. Thus said her Braavosi fencing master. And he had also told her what to say face to face to Death: two simple words that weighed more than the powers that rule our lives. Two words that are now in Arya's throat, eager to spring, like bolts from a fired crossbow, through her parted lips.
The air is cold and the Stranger is face to face with her, towering above her little frame.
"Not today!"
The Stranger's hands are those of a young man, five-fingered and pale, yet they look surprisingly healthy. Putting them to the crown of his head, he slowly takes his cowl off, and what Arya Stark beholds makes her resolve falter for a while.
The face of the god of death is not that of any beast. His hair, eyebrows, and stubble are black as the darkest midnight. His features are fine and well-arranged, more than those of the other six. And there are sparkles of both mischief and sorrow in his dark grey eyes. The Stranger is a likeness of Arya's favourite sibling, her stepbrother Jon Snow, who left Winterfell for the Night's Watch right before she moved to the capital. Ever since, Jon had always been in her dreams, both before and after the dreadful day of the execution, but even more after it. And there he is, so bright and radiant, so mild, with such an expression of love... Never formerly had he been so dashing and so tall. And the light is now as bright as if it were noonday.
"Come with me, I will take you with me, where there is no want, or fear, or pain, or wickedness. You will be with the Stranger, in the Stranger's Heaven high above the other six, and see beautiful things very few have ever beheld." And he takes the little maiden in his strong arms, taking her to soar higher and higher in brightness and in joy, but something inside her still resists. Arya still wants the life she leads, with its sorrows and its worries, with the constant fear of Tywin's men and of drunken scoundrels, and the neverending longing for those days long gone. Though the Stranger takes after her beloved stepbrother, though he offers her a world devoid of sorrows, which is but half a world, she will rather keep her painful life on Earth, a suffering that no one will ever envy in their lives.
Thus, she looks with tearful steel eyes at the god of death. And, as he loosens his grip around her waist, the little girl shouts once more, this time so loud that all of Westeros can hear it:
"Not today!"
And, as the Stranger loosens his grip and fades away, and the light around her gives way to utter darkness, she falls, falling deeper and deeper into the void, into uncertainty, hoping that she will fall into life. Then, everything is liquid around her, and she feels the taste of both fresh and salty water at once. She draws the mixed waters deep into her chest, into her lungs, as the wound on the sole of her left foot is seared and gives away a mixture of both pain and burning, making Arya feel alive.
In the end, she opens her eyes, to find herself unexpectedly on the deck of a foreign merchant ship as its sails have already unfurled. Slowly rising up, she can merely see the heights of the Red Keep and the Great Sept as they disappear into the horizon. King's Landing is far away, and, for the first time in ages, she feels happy.
The day sky is sapphire blue, not obscured even by a single cloud, and the golden sun shines warmly upon her. Yet, shaken by the motion of the ship on the waves, which she has never encountered before, Arya suddenly feels her entrails twist and turn and writhe inside her, making her retch and throw up what she had swallowed during the night: a mess of liquorice fibers in which the square iron coin shines brighter than any star. The cabin boy picks up the coin and leads Arya to the captain's cabin, where she is dressed in a fine shirt and puffy satin breeches. The captain, a sharply-dressed Braavosi who reminds Arya of her fencing master, is kind and clever, and he gets the coin. He explains that the coin Arya had once swallowed came from Braavos, just like the crew itself, and that the secret order of the Faceless Men employ it as a token. The Faceless had hitherto merely been stories, but the captain's tales about them encourage Arya to dream of a new life in which she can be any person she wishes.
The surgeon on board tends to Arya's wounded foot, which is now cleaned and stitched. And her heart becomes more joyful for each day spent helping the cabin boy. Thus, when the lookout announces that the crown of the Titan's helmet can be seen, the young girl raises her eyes and thanks the Stranger for having paid heed to her request, as her heart and mind fill completely, for the first time in years, with hope.

THE END.

PS.

WINTER SEASON'S GREETINGS TO ALL OF YOU, DEAR READERS!!!
THANK YOU FOR YET ANOTHER WARMING WINTER CELEBRATION ONLINE!!

REELING AND WRITHING XXIII: OTHELLO À LA CHEVALIER

REELING AND WRITHING
or,
Miss Dermark's 2015 Advent Calendar

DAY TWENTY-THREE

OTHELLO À LA CHEVALIER
or
I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT TRACY DOES...

Fifteen years after the publication of Girl with a Pearl Earring, which was inspired by one of the best-loved paintings in the world, Hogarth today announces that Tracy Chevalier is joining the Hogarth Shakespeare series to write a novel inspired by one of the world’s best-loved plays –Othello.

Tracy Chevalier says: ‘Othello is essentially about being an outsider and the price you pay for that difference. Most of the protagonists in my novels are outsiders, geographically or mentally, so writing Othello’s story was an irresistible opportunity.’ 

Clara Farmer, publishing director at Chatto & Windus/Hogarth, acquired world rights in all languages from Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown.

She said: “Tracy Chevalier’s ability to conjure whole worlds in her work has always been exciting, and I look forward to discovering the world she creates for her Othello.” (Hey, I look forward to the same myself!)

The series will launch to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016.

Chevalier's take on "The Lieutenant, the Moor, his Wife, and his Aide" (let's see how she retells the hooking proto-thriller) will be released in the Anglosphere in autumn 2016 (it will also reach Spain, where Lumen will publish the novel!!)

So brace yourselves, Othello lovers: AUTUMN IS COMING.

REELING AND WRITHING XXII: THE MESSIAH TALE

REELING AND WRITHING
or,
Miss Dermark's 2015 Advent Calendar

DAY TWENTY-TWO


THE MESSIAH TALE
or
A CHRIST BY ANY OTHER NAME

Since there is "Christ" in "Christmas" and we've only got two days left to our great Christmas Eve Surprise... here's the plot archetype of the Messiah plot as written by Michael Chase Walker. For we need more stories about crucified saviours who would gladly drink the hemlock for the sake of us sinners:

These are not just formulas, but principles that have worked since time immemorial. [A plot archetype is] a highly developed, time-honored and impeccably structured means for telling a certain type of story... a neatly assembled arrangement of events so powerful, the sheer use of it will communicate to your audiences the very nature of the conflict ahead.

The Messiah Story

Here we have the transformed hero enter the provincial world "as a stranger with wondrous experience and remarkable powers." S/he's going to clash with the authority figures, but make friends among the outcasts.

The Provincial World

In this archetype, we're dealing with "an advanced society, ruled by three tiers of political power: the prevailing authorities, the marginal powers and the oppressed insurgent rebels." The Messiah counters all of these, because s/he represents "spiritual power" and liberation, whereas all these earthly powers seek to subjugate - to "oppress, control, or enslave."

The Prevailing Authorities

An "elite foreign government" who want to maintain status quo so they can continue to exploit the commoners. They care about riches, not people. They're powerful and confident.

The Marginal Powers

These are those who are "most threatened by the arrival of the orphan/magician wanderer," since they are even more power-hungry than their rulers are. This category covers the bureaucrats, as well as those who turn against their own kind to work for the overlords in the hopes of getting favors.

The Insurgent Rebels

Seeking to overthrow the Prevailing Authorities. They might be "likable, well-meaning, and more noble than all the others," but they still seek to force their will onto the common folk.

The Orphan / Magician / Messiah

An idealist who wanders into town. S/he is "a champion of the poor and underprivileged, as these are the good souls who have fed and clothed him along the way." Also, to a certain extent, s/he might be The Fool.

Disciples and Adversaries

Betrayal, Persecution, and Judgment

Death and Resurrection

All right, if you know the story of Jesus, or Han Solo, or Aslan, or Kikyo (rare female example), or Ellen Ripley (another female example), or maybe Dany Targaryen... you get the picture. A picture millennia older than Christianity and still looked up to in fiction.

REELING AND WRITHING XXI: "KARMA COMMEDIA"

REELING AND WRITHING
or,
Miss Dermark's 2015 Advent Calendar

DAY TWENTY-ONE

"KARMA COMMEDIA"
or
MISHEARD LYRIC + GUNDAM WING + 30YW + COMMEDIA = GREAT IDEA

Quatre Winner's surname in this historical AU might as well have been Stark. To round up all of the relevant calamities that have happened in his short life:

• Lost his mother in childbirth, shortly after he was born
• All of his sisters left home to marry
• Had to flee his birthplace of France (to be more precise, their ancestral home, an estate on the Atlantic west coast) for being Protestant, persecuted by Richelieu (fortunately, he and his father found a new home thanks to one of the Winner sisters/daughters, who resided in Magdeburg with her spouse)
• Was homeschooled and more intelligent than any other lad in Magdeburg: had acquaintances galore, but no friends at all
• The year he, aged 14, finally was to leave for Leipzig University to meet his equals was 1631: the year of the siege and the storming of Magdeburg
• During the above-mentioned storming, his widowed father, older sister (also ravished), brother-in-law, twin sister (ostensibly), and all of his servants were killed... SPOILER ALERT: Well, actually his sister Iria was left for dead and survived, becoming a reputed healer, and guardian to Quatre's fraternal twin Catherine Winner (another Magdeburg survivor), and the young heir will reunite with both sisters...
• ...all of these misdeeds being caused by a backstabbing retainer to the household, a steward surnamed Iscariote (so short-lived during the storming that his agenda remains a secret for a long time)
• ...and the Winner townhouse burned to the ground, depriving Quatre of his home and fortune
• Furthermore, to be spared an unpleasant fate, he swapped clothes with his twin sister... and, in drag, was ravished by a drunken Croat, then by the rest of the unit (equally inebriated), and finally by Count Pappenheim himself (also intoxicated)
• Entered Leipzig not as a student, but as an occupying conqueror, against his will
• Received his baptism of fire at Breitenfeld, as a private pikeman, aged but 14
• Was made a POW of Sweden at the same battle of Breitenfeld, then appointed as orderly to an insufferable, conceited, and cold officer (Zechs, here a bastard son of Gustavus Adolphus)
• Lost his innocence due to all of these debacles piling up (and who wouldn't)?

Trowa and Catherine Barton-Bloom, two stateless orphans from a commedia dell'arte troupe, travel with the Swedish Army, as well as playing the tricky valet and the tricky maid on stage. When Quatre learns to know them, hope is rekindled. They've thought of adding a new character, a naive and trusting valet (who is also Trowa's rival on stage), to their plays, and the blond stripling fits all the requirements to play the part on stage.
Now add that, in between one play and another, the Austro-Swedish phase of the 30YW still rages on...

The title is a misheard titular lyric from Culture Club I misheard as a child: "Karma, karma, karma, karma, karma commedia..."
This AU is rather popular and equally painful, with loss of innocence as a central theme (the very Dickensian character arc of Quatre in this 'verse)... how can you play an innocent character on stage when you're bleeding within? And oodles of Othello quotes. And a diverse cast of OCs, historical characters, and Gundam Wing characters alike, coupled with echoes of Westeros...set against the backdrop of an epoch as stormy and riveting as the Thirty Years' War.

REELING AND WRITHING XX: IN STORMS THE FREE SPIRIT

REELING AND WRITHING
or,
Miss Dermark's 2015 Advent Calendar

DAY TWENTY

IN STORMS THE FREE SPIRIT
or
YOU KNOW THE ONE WHO WOULD CLIMB UP THE REICHSTAG AND SIT ON ITS DOME, LIVING ON RAINWATER, DEW, OR FROST, FOR A FORTNIGHT AS PROTEST?

Luna Lovegood would do it, and Ty Lee, and Pippi Lângstrump, and Anne/Benio "Haikara-san" Hanamura, Ada Goth, and even the mistress of this blog. Climb up the Reichstag and make a home there. Put a cat in the tumble-dryer. Make a huge kite, with a reel of rope for a string, and crucify herself on it to take to the sky. Quaff a whole bottle of Russian vodka, or at least attempt it before passing out or needing to throw up.

My female leads are always Free Spirits. Asuka Akizuki (though non-binary), Reena Fitzwilliam (leaning on the Lunatic, in a grey area), most of the Ringstetten female leads (and even Queen Christina herself), and now Catherine Saunier. A lot of the plot in Pleasure Past and Anguish Past gets its satisfaction from Cath fitting the unlikely mold. Her spear counterpart/foil and best friend Étienne, the dandy in distress to save, is a vulnerable, stray, brooding Lost Soul, and she gets a pair of Sancho figures (Jon Tellagorri and Irina Alekseievna Larina, an older and equally eccentric yet down-to-earth mentor, then, after his death, a no-nonsense and iron-hard military girl) to show her the way. And a lot of the plot centers on her dealing with backstabbing, white lies, and other harsh sides of reality... will she turn away from the light and lose her innocence or not? The whole story is a deconstruction and an experiment with Cath as a Free Spirit in a hostile world, based on my own self-discovery. It's a Free Spirit's "Book of Job", (think The Snow Queen rewritten in the key of Don Quixote) to see if she can remain sunny in the harshest of storms.
Luna has also got a Sancho "anchor to earth/voice of reason" in Neville. Anne/Benio Hanamura has got Shinobu, her Lieutenant Charming, and her friends Tamaki and Ranmaru. Pippi has the Zettergren siblings (Tommy and Annika), the literal kids next door. Ty Lee's got Mai, Azula, and (post-coat-turn) Suki. Reena and Asuka have István for a voice of reason... and every Ringstetten heroine has her spear counterpart, Christina Vasa her advisors, and my parents and friends fill the same slot in my life.

A male example would be pre-war Aerys Targaryen as he appears in my canonical fiction and AUs (Game of Wands developing this character prominently). The trauma of being made a POW, and tortured and experimented with, changes Aerys from Free Spirit to Lunatic and sets the whole chain of events in motion. Furthermore, it shapes the life of many others, foremost his Sancho Tywin Lannister, a fallout with whom caused Aerys's imprisonment...
A female example of Free Spirit in Game of Wands would be Lyanna Stark, one of the point-of-view characters of the same series.

In my Ada Goth stories, like Ada Goth and the Golden Bridegroom, the titular heroine, now a marriageable adolescent, is also a Free Spirit. Ada attends the Alice B. Smith School for the Differently Gifted and studies subjects such as Paper Folding, Advanced Musing, Seeming, Being, and Whistling Choir. The blue and white uniform, with epaulettes and a straw hat, fits her like a glove.

Annotation:
Ada Goth and the Golden Bridegroom is the one with the Lannisters... eh, Sinisters as the villains (except for Ada's kindred spirit Tycho Sinister). Reinterpreted into the Riddellverse as a straitlaced clan of Tory aristocrats, who love logic and industrialism and despise everything creative. The titular golden bridegroom is heir Geoffrey Sinister, Ada's prefect, promised to her since infancy, because the Sinisters sponsored/patronized Lord Goth when he was a ragged bohemian university student (Jephthah's daughter was called Ada: notice the parallel!). Add Lieutenant Letchworth-Crisp and Lara Fulda, add Minty Woodwine (who is Tycho's "Shae"), Wemmick the Elder (whom William Cabbage tends to), Lord Tybalt Sinister with his favourite children Saoirse (it's pronounced SEAR-sha) and Jamie, Geoff's younger siblings Estella and Thomas, Headmistress Alice B. Smith (the Olenna du jour), lots of steampunk, a feud between the Alice B. Smith and the school ship Betty-Jeanne, familiar faces of Betty-Jeanne classmates galore (Horace Tucker, Tessa "Mouse" Maas, Sylvie Smith [related to Alice B.!], and Jimmy "Spike" Thompson)...  references to The Princess Bride (a vicar gives the blessing talking about "mawwage," for instance), a wedding crashed, a bridegroom unwittingly drinking a strychnine-laced draught, the Chamomiles, husband and wife...
A sequel, Ada Goth and the Dashing Lieutenant, is in the making. With the Chamomiles adopting Sylvie Smith, Jon-Jolyon closing in on Ada, Lord Goth falling terminally ill during a war of liberation on the Dalcretian coast, William seeking a way to get to Ada, Lara feeling scorned and up to something, Tycho and Minty sure to appear, as well as Countess Pippi Shortstocking, new characters, new surprises, an unlikely spin on the kiss of Judas Iscariot, references to The Princess Bride and to the Fourth Story of the Snow Queen, time travel, new students at Alice B. Smith, the death of more than one relevant character, Ada getting her first steps in art, invention, and science while fleeing the harsh rebukes she will endure as an orphan maid at the School for the Differently Gifted, a decision whether to choose her humble kindred spirit/childhood friend or the wealthy, dashing officer who promises her everything she wishes...


The Free Spirit

• A possible Cloudcuckoolander prone to flights of fancy and acts of whim.
• The FREE SPIRIT: eternal optimist, she dances to unheard tunes. Playful and fun-loving, she travels through life with a hop, skip and a jump, always stopping to smell the flowers and admire the pretty colors. She acts on a whim and follows her heart, not her head. 
• The Free Spirit’s driving force is self-direction. She wants to dance to her own tune and doesn’t want the world to judge her for that. She is very sincere, upbeat and imaginative. She is impulsive and can meddle in other’s lives and problems. Other people would describe her as all-over the place and undisciplined. She doesn’t fit into a mold. For natural conflict you can pair her with straight men who would frown at her outside-the-box behavior. She is very comfortable with being herself and all she wants is for others to let her be. These characters are more likely to show up in romantic comedy.
  Ex. Luna Lovegood
• Free Spirit is artistic, uninhibited, and spontaneous. 
• Free Spirit = ECCENTRIC. Jo March, Little Women. Confident, artistic, unique, chatterbox, whimsical, authentic. feisty, entertaining, sassy, wild for the 1800s (jumping fences & yelling hello).
• The Free Spirit This woman dances to the beat of her own drum. She is very playful and fun loving. She stops to smell the flowers whenever she can and admires the colors of the world. Ruled by pure emotion, she follows her heart rather than her head.
  Now, let's really get to know the Free Spirit!
  
  The Good Side
  
  >Full of charm
  >Extremely helpful to others
  >Full of seemingly endless energy
  >She has great instincts, her gut leads her right
  >Sees everything and everyone just as they are
  
  The Bad Side
  
  >Very often late for things
  >Whimsical, head in the clouds
  >Doesn't make good or solid decisions
  >Can hurt those that love her as she lives moment to moment without thinking first
  >Doesn't conform without a fight (a loud one)
  
  Remember, some of the good traits can be bad ones and vice versa depending on how you want to use them. Take them to extremes and see what happens!
• The Free Spirit
  Next up, the Free Spirit. Playful and fun loving, this heroine travels through life with a hop, skip and a jump, always stopping to smell the flowers and admire the pretty colors. She acts on a whim and follows her heart, not her head. An "original," she sets trends, not follows them, and is looking for new experiences. She might be a bit on the ditzy side, or perhaps she the well-intentioned busybody who leaves a trail of victims of her good deeds. A Free Spirit in the midst of a bar fight? Chances are, some inadvertent act or statement of hers set off the whole dispute, but she be oblivious to that fact. Instead, she'll choose a side to root for, and stand in the middle of the room, throwing mock punches in moral support of the one she favors. She'll resist others' efforts to pull her safety, thriving on the excitement offered by such a wild event. When it's all over, she'll be high as a kite on the adrenaline rush. Danger? Pshaw.
• Skipping through life, the Free Spirit is genuine, fun-loving and energetic. She may be a handful for anyone who has to deal with her, but she makes the experience worthwhile in her zany, highspirited way. Impossible to be mad at for any length of time, she charms the socks off everybody who gets sucked into her orbit. Because she is impulsive, she often finds herself in jams and needs help getting out of them. Luckily for her, there is usually someone around to pick up the pieces. Or else, her crazy logic will save the day. Either way, she lands on her feet, ready for the next adventure.
• VIRTUES: Sincere The Free Spirit always lets people know right where she stands. She is not conniving because it is so much easier to be honest and truthful. Being a genuine person is her natural instinct, and this is a woman who always follows her instincts. Upbeat Life inevitably seems to work out for this woman. Her sunny disposition makes it easy for her to see the bright side of every situation. The Free Spirit has nine lives, and she believes in the possibilities of tomorrow. She knows there is a solution to every problem, she merely has to figure out who to call. Imaginative The Free Spirit is amazingly resourceful and ingenious when she needs to be. She might stumble along the way, but she accomplishes the task set before her.  
• FLAWS: Impulsive Oh, if only this woman would think just a little before she goes out the door in the morning. The Free Spirit sometimes (unintentionally, of course) hurts people because she speaks before she thinks and acts before she plans. Meddling A long rocky road, paved with good intentions, stretches behind this woman. The Free Spirit has a finger in everybody's pie and loves to stir her friends' pots. She is uncontrollably drawn to interfere, regardless of the wishes of her victims. Undisciplined Jill of all trades but master of none, the Free Spirit rarely sticks with anything for long. Erratic, she never writes things down and constantly forgets her commitments. She flies by the seat of her pants, which makes fulfilling promises impossible. 

• Free Spirit Character Archetype

  The free spirit archetype is a quirky, talkative, charming, and unpredictable individual.
• The free spirit character archetype will lighten a serious story, add comedy to a light tale, and just the right amount of unpredictability to any plot. Some well-known free spirits include Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe inFriends, Meg Ryan as Kathleen in You’ve Got Mail, and Emma in Emma by Jane Austen.

  The Free Spirit is Eccentric

  Following normal conventions is boring to a free spirit. Life should be lived with a splash, is her motto. Her eccentricity shows in her quirky habits, her unusual clothing, her hobbies, and her interests.

  She may be an astrologer or an artist. She might be an actor or entertainer. Whatever she chooses as her career, it will be something where her creativity can shine and where the lines of convention and norms are blurry.

  The Free Spirit is Talkative

  The free spirit character archetype loves to talk. She is one of those characters that will chat about anything and everything, charming some people and irritating others, but everyone still thinks she is adorable.

  Her charm lies in the fact that she can tune in to others’ feelings and be empathetic. Her empathy sometimes makes her think she knows more about how people are feeling than they themselves know, and she often sets herself up as a matchmaker.

  At the same time, her ideas sometimes appear so far fetched that others don’t understand her. This comes across humorously. She finds enjoyment in the littlest things, and shares them by telling endless tales.

  The free spirit goes with the flow like a leaf floating on the surface of the water.

  Free Spirit Relationships

  The free spirit is sincere, upbeat, and cheers everyone up. Because she is so much fun to be around, she always receives invitations to parties and events. People don’t take her seriously because of her unusual ideas and habits. Yet she can be highly intelligent, which makes these relationships frustrating for her.

  In romance, the free spirit is most likely to fall for a character that is indulgent and patient. Even though he may not understand her process, he sits back and enjoys the show. The free spirit paired with the warrior will lead to humorous escapades.

  Free Spirit Role in Stories

  The free spirit serves equally well as the antagonist or the protagonist in a novel. As a protagonist, she injects humor, good feelings, fun, and excitement to the plot. As the antagonist, she is the person who makes everything go wrong for the hero/heroine. 
• The free spirit is always lighthearted, no matter what role she plays. She brings a ray of sunshine to even the darkest of stories, but she shines with her brightest light in comedies.

There is also an evil version:

The Lunatic

• Insane version of The Free Spirit who is less eccentric and more "unbalanced madwoman."
• The LUNATIC: the unbalanced madwoman, she draws others into her crazy environment. The drum to which she marches misses many a beat, but to her, it is the rest of the world that is out of step. Don’t even try to understand her logic – she is unfathomable.

Examples:

The Free Spirit: Luna Lovegood.

The Lunatic: "Ophelia! Ophelia! Don't go picking those flowers, dear, you'll hurt yourself!"