Damn…it looked like this was going to be happy memory…but those ships look ominous….
As I mentioned last week, We’re going to have a longer break than just the 1 week I usually planned for. Coupled with moving house I’ve also been taking part in 2 manga competitions (one of which involved me killing a week trying to print screentones right on a printed submission), and this is all before I even start drawing Coffee Party…which I will be also doing as normal 😛
The result of all this is that the page buffer is exhausted, just like myself alas. Because of all this I would like to impose myself your incredible patience once more and to come back in 4 weeks for the next page of this chapter on:
Friday 24th July 2020
Sorry everyone, due to a summer filled with renovation work I was pushed back in getting my buffer of pages filled with new stuff.
For the next page please come back on:
Friday 7 August 2020
Again, very sorry for the delay 🙁
I’m no expert on Irish history, but hasn’t mysterious ships appearing over the horizon pretty always meant very bad things? For that matter, according to some stories, weren’t the Fomorians originally sea raiders?
I love how genki Aine’s little sister is. (Does she have a name?) Makes me wonder if that might have something to do with why Aine seems to be drawn to Aoife.
As I recall, Fomorians were a supernatural race in Irish mythology, often portrayed as hostile and monstrous beings who come from under the sea or the earth. Generally depicted as gods who represent the harmful or destructive powers of nature; personifications of chaos, darkness, death, blight and drought. They are enemies of Ireland’s first settlers and opponents of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
It seems it was only later they were portrayed as giants and sea raiders. This change was most likely influenced by the Norse raids on Ireland that were taking place around that time.
@Kessy: I hadn’t actually named Aine’s sister yet. I had known for years that she had a little sister, but I never once could settle on a suitable Celtic name for her that I hadn’t already used on the main cast 🙂
@Azreal: The Fomorians have a confusing history in Irish legend that sometimes describe them a monstrous giants and sometimes as human-like beings who could intermarry with Tuatha Dé Danann and have children with them. All of this confusion kind of makes them great fodder for fiction 😀
No name? Hmmmmmm… What’s “Puffin girl” in Gaeilge?
Seriously, though, a puffin is an unusual pet – not least because they have a tendency to fly out to sea for years on end – so maybe she went out of her way to help an injured puffin because her name is something related to puffins? That is the sort of thing little kids do.
This episode has made me rethink some things and did give a potential sad. See, in my head canon, Áine had happily left her family because she was chosen to be Múinteoir’s apprentice. However, this is making me think that the reasons for her apprenticeship were very much darker than I had imagined.
@Kessy: There doesn’t seem to be a particular translation for “Puffin” in Irish, but “Bird girl” would translate to some thing like “Cailínéan”. Which would sound something like Kai-leen-ain.
I feel like I’ve seen that look of Aine’s in the third panel before.
And I know next to nothing of history, but the only things I can think of that those ships would be are Romans, Norsemen, or (unlikely) Celts.
@Azrael: Personally, I always took Aine being Muinteoir’s slave as implying that her apprenticeship did not come about under happy circumstances.
Or maybe a name related to something like, “sky,” “sea bird,” “egg,” “wind,” something like that…
@Farren: Given the time period, I’d think they’re likely Norse. The Romans never made significant incursions into Ireland (which they saw as quite literally on the edge of the world.) Later in history those could be Normans or, worst of all, the English. (j/k) Going back into prehistory and mythology, according to The Book of Invasions, Ireland was invaded by just about everybody. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebor_Gab%C3%A1la_%C3%89renn
Although I had thought that Muinteoir and Aine had lived in the late Roman period (around the 400’s CE) but the Viking Age didn’t begin until the late 700’s CE. Of course an isolated raid could have happened at any time.
@Farren: Actually, I had another thought. You could be right that they are Celts. In the sense that they could just be local Irish bandits / pirates, or even raiders from a neighboring kingdom. My understanding is that internal Irish politics tended to be pretty tribal and chaotic in ancient times.
Thanks for all of that, Kessy. Ancient Europe is really something I know nothing about, and I imagine most people are the same. They teach U.S. history, and Western Civilization in school, but the Western Civ mostly covers Egypt, Rome, and Greece. Very little is ever taught about the rest of Europe.
I figured the Celts would have been unlikely, because I didn’t think of them sailing from one part of Ireland to another, but it does make sense.
Either way, we’ll find out Soon™. 😛 Take your time, Rawr. We’re not going anywhere. Unless some pirates come raid our villages. 😉
https://youtu.be/c0b-UyfwCX8 seen these guys preform once in my town. Song takes a long time to get going but its good and very apropos.
@AskAoife: When you see chameleon lying there in the sun and it’s all things to everyone, do you run, run away?
@Azreal: Hmm…depends. Is he Karma Chameleon? Does he like to come and go? Those are usual the best kind 😛
@Aoife: Well things would be easy if their colors were like my dreams, but I only love dreaming of black and white. Bán mar chaoirigh. Dubh mar ghual. Can an t-amhrán, cad bobaire!
(Gasp!) You can speak Irish?! You are such a clever kitty!! (Scratches behind Azreal’s ear).
I must bring you to Irish class tomorrow, they’ll love this!
Aoife…you have to stop bringing animals that speak Irish into class with you. You once brought a Parakeet that kept screaming “Póg mo thóin!! PÓG MO THÓIN!!!” The teachers got very upset…..
XD *is ded
Hey, Azrael, could I convince you to take a short trip to Luna Nova Magical Academy? I was hoping you could cameo in my story. Here’s an excerpt:
It was a lazy afternoon at Luna Nova. Classes had finished for the day and Akko had invited herself to Aoife’s dorm room. Akko stood leaning against the bunkbed chatting with Aoife, who was sitting on the lower bunk practicing levitating her stuffed black cat. Aine was sitting at her desk absorbed in a library book and Ashling was laying on the single bed reading a textbook.
Ashling let out a long sigh and let her book rest on her face.
With a concerned look, Akko asked, “Something wrong, Ashling?”
Ashling sighed again, “This is really just too much.”
“You mean the study load?”
“No!” Ashling sat up, holding her textbook for all to see and pointing at the luna script that covered most of the page. “I just never expected to finish my high school career studying this crazy stuff!”
Akko chuckled. Aoife sent her stuffed cat flying over to land on Ashling’s head, saying, “Azrael says you’re worrying too much, Ashling!”
Ashling swatted at the cat in annoyance, and Aoife turned to Akko. “Don’t worry about it too much, Akko. Ashling is just pining for a normal life right now.”
“A normal life?” Akko asked.
“Yes!” exclaimed Ashling. “A normal life doing normal things like a normal teenager!”
“Normal huh?” Akko said thoughtfully, staring off into the distance. Suddenly, a light went on in her eyes. “Aha! I know just the thing! Hang on, I’ll be right back!” And with that she dashed from the room.
Ashling, Aoife and Aine all looked at each other in puzzlement.
“What in the world is she up to?” asked Ashling.
“I have no idea,” replied Aine, who looked pointedly at Aoife.
“I don’t know either!” protested Aoife. “Despite what you guys think, I really don’t have a direct line to what goes on in Akko’s head.”
“You two do think alike,” Aine commented with a wry grin.
Just then they heard running footsteps approaching down the hall and Akko burst into the room carrying an arm full of books. “Here you go, Ashling!” she exclaimed happily, coming over to Ahsling’s bed and dumping the entire load on her head.
Ashling surfaced from the sea of books with a small gasp, “What is all this?”
“Normalcy!” replied Akko with a cheeky grin. “What could be more normal than manga?”
“Manga?!” exclaimed Ashling. “I’m Irish! Spending all my time reading manga is not normal!” Aoife gave Ashling a hurt look and Ashling amended sheepishly, “Well not for me.” She picked up one of the books to examine it. “And besides, I can’t read Japanese!”
Akko looked startled. “You can’t? Oh yeah, I guess not. I hadn’t thought of that.”
Aoife came over and started looking through the volumes of manga. “Wow, I had no idea there were so many manga about Shiny Chariot.”
“Yup!” replied Akko proudly, “I have every one ever published.”
“Ohhh!” exclaimed Aoife, “Can I borrow this one? I’ve heard of it but it’s super hard to get outside of Japan.”
Just then came a knock on their open door and Sucy and Lotte walked in.
“Sorry to intrude,” said Lotte.
“We just figured we should come see what crazy scheme Akko is about to drag us into sooner rather than later,” said Sucy.
“It’s project, ‘Make Ashling Feel Normal’!” said Akko enthusiastically. “Lotte, what qualifies as normal?”
Lotte looked a bit taken aback by the sudden question. “Ummm, I don’t know, I guess for me normal would be marathoning the Nightfall movies?”
Ashling shook her head emphatically.
Akko turned to Sucy, “Su-”
Sucy cut her off mid-syllable, “Why would you even ask me? Do I look like I’d have any idea what Ashling considers normal?”
With a mischievous grin on her face, Aoife tapped Akko on the shoulder. “I have an idea…” She then proceeded to whisper at length in Akko’s ear.
“That’s perfect!” Akko exclaimed.
Alarmed, Ashling jumped to her feet. “What? What’s perfect?”
“You’ll see…” said Aoife in a sing song.
“Come on Blue, let’s do it!” cried Akko, and grabbing Aoife’s hand the two of them left the room arm in arm.
Ashling sat heavily on the bed, burying her face in her hands. “Oh god, I’m doomed…”
That Ashling, no respect for the dignity of supreme magnificence. Hmph. >^.^<
@Kessy: Be my guest. 🙂
…be my guest! Something-something, you know the rest. 😛
@Azrael: Ah, well, you know how short tempered Ashling can be when Aoife is getting on her nerves. I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it. 😉
While we’re all waiting for an update, I wrote up a little scene that I hope you guys will find amusing:
One morning Fiona, Ashling, and Aine were sitting in Fiona’s car in front of the school, waiting for Aoife.
“Wow, so you really weren’t joking when you said you guys got admitted to a magic academy in England?” asked Fiona wonderingly.
“No, no we weren’t.” said Ashling with a hang dog expression.
Fiona looked sympathetic. “So where is Aoife? If you want to get to the stone circle in time to meet this Diana person we need to leave soon.”
“I don’t know,” replied Aine. “She said she just needed to grab a few last things before we left, but she headed off that way…” Aine pointed toward some trees and bushes.
Ashling looked distinctly unhappy, “Oh no, she didn’t… I told her she can’t…”
Suddenly Aoife burst out of the bushes running flat out, a terrified look on her face. She wrenched open the back door of the car and jumped in, shouting, “Drive!!”
Fiona just stared at her, completely aghast, “What in the world…?”
Aoife grabbed her arm, face white as a ghost, and screamed, “Just drive! Drive if you want to live!”
Without warning Sharon burst out of the same bushes Aoife had, apparently in hot pursuit. The color drained from Fiona’s face and she stomped on the accelerator. Sharon nearly caught up to them as they swerved out of the parking lot and onto the road, making a grab for their bumper before they managed to speed away.
“What did you do?!” demanded Fiona.
“Err, nothing, really, I was just saying good bye, and err, there was a bit of a misunderstanding…”
Ashling was apoplectic. “You tried to put Azrael into a cat carrier so you could bring him with us, didn’t you? And Miss Connors caught you in the act!”
It was impossible for Aoife to look any guiltier. “No! Err, well, maybe. Sorta. Ummm… Yes.”
Ashling smacked her on the head. “Don’t you realize that she’d come after us if you did that? Even if she had to walk across the bottom of the Irish Sea!”
Fortunately for Capt. Sharon the Dublin to Liverpool runs twelve times a week so walking probably wouldn’t be necessary. 😛
Nice job, Kessy. I like these crossover stories. 🙂
Thanks, Azrael, I’m really glad you like them! ^_^ And it just so happens that I just now posted chapter 3 of Loose Ends on both Deviant Art and AO3.
Incidentally, the scene in the Luna Nova dorm will be appearing in a later chapter. I’m currently planning on Project Make Ashling Feel Normal to be the bulk of chapter 5. But, you know, sometimes stories can have a mind of their own…
The scene with them being chased by Sharon is just something funny that occurred to me, so I guess you can think of it as a bonus for Bata Neart readers.