Chapter Seven Page 3
Poe: Careful, Master. Don’t fall when my wings aren’t there to catch you.
Miranda: That’s right . . . I still have you, don’t I, Poe?
Poe: Of course.
Miranda: But then . . . you were devoted to me from the instant I contracted. I can’t be that wonderful.
Your feelings aren’t real, are they? They’re part of your — like everyone’s calling it on the news — programming.
Poe: Master, I — mmph!
Miranda: It’s fine! I’ll deal with it. Fake love is better than no love, right?
Besides, Patrick was never contracted to me. He was only forced to love my father — in spite of everything. And now he’s forced to put that woman first. When, without the contract, he might not even like her!
All I have to do is figure out how to hack his “program.” To erase the part that makes him so attached. Then he can finally be free.
Wow, science is scary. “That woman”, huh.
Oh, Miranda. What a great antihero. And I definitely want to get to know more about Poe.
Bianca and Patrick look super-colorful compared to the rest of the page.
Granted we know more than Miranda knows, but the biggest flaw in her plan is Patrick chose to follow Sparrow home and chose to go inside with Bianca. Beings have displayed a need for Masters, but Patrick has shown a capacity for free will that will probably derail Miranda’s new scheme.
Now I’m even more intrigued by Miranda and Patrick’s history, even though I’m firmly in the camp of Patrick is MUCH better off with Bianca and Sparrow.
“I can’t be that wonderful.” — Can we nominate this as the understatement of the chapter? ;)
I’m not actually so sure. She obviously cares about Beings in general, and Poe and Pat in particular, and she is trying to set everyone’s favorite pup with some level of free will, which is more or less Bianca’s goal as well. She’s also bright and has at least some sense of humor. I’ve seen people fall for, and live happily with, people of lesser quality.
Point being, Poe might very well think she really is that wonderful, independently of his “programming,” if such a thing is possible.
And Erin gives us something to cling to for this character. Knew you’d give us something more concrete on Miranda. Thank God too. Still, kinda scary how she’s perfectly fine with the whole “Even if you don’t really love me, I’ll still take it” attitude.
Miranda’s expression in panel 3 screams “Yandere!” Seriously, it looks like she’s a few steps away from going psycho murderess on people. (Of course, I have a weakness for a psycho ones.) Now I want to see her cosplay as Rip van Winkle.
So, as with Tim and Reseda/Lily, Miranda and Patrick formed a bond when Patrick had a master (the father). But in this case it didn’t have a happy ending. And we know that Patrick now is with Bianca because of his attraction to Sparrow.
Clearly the solution is Miranda x Sparrow with Patrick as their Being.
Man, is there anything you won’t pair up?
For the most part I’m doing it as a running gag to riff on Erin’s own fondness for crack shipping. (My support of Cohen x Bennett? Completely tongue in cheek, but in the good way.)
I do honestly ship Patrick x Sparrow, though. And I’ve written in the forum how a Miranda x Sparrow pairing would plausibly work.
Ah, but that isn’t exactly how Beingry works, Miranda.
Like your psycology though. Too bad the only means of getting Patrick back is killing Bianca.
Evidently that’s not the only way. Bianca got Patrick from someone who’s still alive.
Interesting… A tangled mess of love and disrespect for the Beings in the same speech, not to mention the dehumanizing of who she sees as an opponent, which is often the prelude to violence. Yeah, I’d say Miranda would benefit from some therapy.
Oh, gracious lady artist, if a Being perceives that its Master is doing something that is bound to hurt the Master, are they at all bound to stop them (as in one of the consequences of Asimov’s First Law of Robotics), or do they have to keep obeying their orders?
A very astute analysis.
Cybele talked about this earlier, suggesting that she had to keep obeying no matter how bad the plan was. And we’ve already seen Reseda (as Lily) being unable to stop her Master from committing unwitting suicide. So, yes, obedience comes even above protecting their Master.
Hmmm… No loopholes?
Well their Master could order a being to disregard other standing orders in order to save them – more or less ordering in a variation of the first law.
Aw Poe! So cute!!
Poor Patrick!
At this point I’m betting Miranda’s dad broke the contract by making Patrick think he was dead. I’m wondering if you need actual death to break the contract or if it’s broken when the Being is convinced you’re dead.
Vampire dad. Technically dead. May have attacked Patrick in a blood frenzy on top of it. That’s my current prediction, though only Erin knows for sure!
Or Patrickś old master told him to go away. Wouldn’t that be horribly painful?
So, fake love is fine… but only as long as it’s directed at you?
Damn, I didn’t even spot that. Good on you.
So I’m left wondering… Can Being 1 be ordered by master 1 to try and uncouple Being 2 from master 2?
Can the Master order it? Sure. Would the Being have the ability to carry out the order? Very unlikely.