Last extra one for a while. Vignette - Sister Time · 11:33pm Apr 19th, 2022
June 10, 2022 - Early Afternoon
“I have all of the rock candy ready to make our necklaces!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she entered the dining room where Maud was.
“While your candy making skills are exemplary, I thought we could use something a little more relevant for the necklaces.” Maud said. She reached under the table and pulled out a big brown box. “I had to special order these.”
Maud set the box on the table and slid over to Pinkie to open. Pinkie popped the flaps open with enthusiasm and then stopped as she looked inside. She pulled a bag of candy out.
“I don’t get it,” Pinkie said.
“It’s Konpeito, Japan’s version of rock candy,” Maud explained. “With you going to Japan, I think it is more appropriate to use it to mark the special occasion. It is special because you are leaving me for the first time. I may be one leaving tomorrow, but when I get back you will be the one gone.”
“Awe,” Pinkie said, tearing up. “That’s so sweet.”
"I’m proud of you,” Maud said, bringing Pinkie in for a hug. “Traveling halfway around the globe to spend a semester learning on foreign rock.”
“What about you?” Pinkie asked. “You're finally going to Sweden to examine the Viking runestones in person. You’re studying abroad too.”
“No, I am going to do fieldwork,” Maud said. “I am not learning from a Swedish university with all of the classes in Swedish. My school is here and I only have the summer break to gather data from the field. I will do lab work when I return or work on other facets of my dissertation. I wouldn’t even be going unless I had to, but understanding why they chose the stones they did to immortalize the information is important. Almost as important as what is carved on them. After all, not all stones can remember messages for a millennia and a half.
"Promise me you will bring me back a piece of Japan.”
“Cross my heart,” Pinkie said, as she crossed her heart. She didn’t skip any of the gestures. “Hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
“Come on, let’s make the necklaces before Limestone is done with her work and Marble is back from her job. We don’t want to delay the Pie sisters hitting the town.”
Pinkie Pie opened all four bags of colorful, pastel candy, pouring them out onto the table. The candy was small, bumpy balls. Pinkie Pie popped one in her mouth as she began to sort out the colors she wanted to use. The bumps made the candy both sweet and fun as she let it poke her mouth and tongue. It was stimulating to roll it around while sucking on the hard sugar.
As Pinkie finished up her necklace, she looked over at Maud, who was also done. Maud was organizing the candies in a particular pattern, but Pinkie couldn’t tell what it was. She got up and walked around to Maud, to see it from her point of view.
“What is that?” Pinkie asked.
“This symbol is called the Vegvisir,” Maud explained. “It’s a compass of sorts. It was believed it would bring good luck on journeys and to weather any storms met on the sea. Each arm is a staff, a direction, and has a meaning. All eight together are also said to help find the right path in life. It isn’t actually a Viking symbol. It is an Icelandic symbol with the earliest examples coming from the nineteenth century, although some people debate it might be much older. What matters is that it invokes imagery of the Viking era, as well as meaning. All Icelanders are direct descendants of Norwegian Norse, who first settled it in the ninth century.
“The runestones I’m studying will span six to eight centuries and will have changes in the culture impressed into the inscriptions by the techniques, symbols, and prose used. While the Norse may not exist anymore, their culture continues to live on symbolically, with some elements still in use today by their descendants, in popular culture, and by others who idolize them or enjoy their art. I find it to be an important symbol.”
“You are so smart,” Pinkie said with a content sigh. “I love listening to you explain these things to me.”
"You are smart too, Pinkie," Maud said. "Not everyone can learn a foreign language enough to spend a significant time there."
Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz came into the dining room. Igneous handed an envelope to Maud. “I see you girls are having fun. What do you have planned for the evening?”
“I wanted to see if we can get Pinkie’s curls into one of the traditional Viking hairstyles,” Maud stated. “The same for the rest of us. There are several other things I want to do with my sisters before I leave in the morning. I’m all packed and ready to go. We won’t stay out too late.”
This was a sweet read! In my head cannon Maud will stumble onto something Mystical and wind up on her own adventure while Pinkie is on hers in Aincrad lol
5651936
Thanks It is fun. Part of it was written because of how Pinkie Pie was developing. Hehehe. There might be foreshadowing in this vignette...
5651940
Well I mean we DO see aspects of the culture shes studying in ALO. But since ALO dont come till later i figured "Yup shes gonna find some mystcial trinket"
5651942
I have so many floors to fill that the original story didn't have to worry about, Norse Mythology is getting used for some. But with 100, the floors are borrowing from all over and all different time periods. But that is just a floor or two, compared to how ALO is heavily based in Norse Mythology, with an odd toss in of Arthurian. lol.
Your idea is not what I had planned, but it does fit for EQG. Maud would absolutely play ALO to connect with Pinkie Pie.
5651940
Like Surtr? The guy that helped end Ragnarok?
5651988
Doesn't he end Ragnarok by destroying the world? But no, Surtr is not present.
5651944
I could see Maud playing ALO to connect to Pinkie in a similar manner to Suguha playing ALO to connect to Kazuto. It would make sense since, out of the Pie sisters, she and Pinkie have the closest relationship with one another. And I could easily see Maud getting into flying very quickly when playing just because it is so foreign to her and she would enjoy learning more about it.
5652004
So not as a boss with a flaming sword of summer as a final hit drop?
5652012
Good idea, but nope. Written past that already. I have some other fun weapons in store for Sunset and the others. I still have the Glass Tower Quest for Sunset to finish.
5652005
Maud would be a Gnome. They specialize in Earth Magic.
5651944
*giggles* To clarify. I mean I could see Maud finding a real life magical trinket during her trip and as a result winds up on some grand adventure haha. But i too could see her later playing ALO with Pinkie if only to spend time with her and meet her other friends.
5652005
When I was reading the original story I always imagined Sweetie to get into ALO. I think it was a combination of that sibling relationship standing out more to me, the occasion fanfics that show Sweetie as a gamer, and imagining the Crusaders having their own adventures.
Maud makes more sense though. The biggest factor is cost. Even if FullDive tech cost the same amount as VR today, it would be pretty expensive. A high school student with a part time job might be able to save up for an Amusphere, I suppose, but I think a research student may have more funds available, depending on the exact position they're in.
The bigger factor is addressed in this short. After losing one daughter to it, there's no way Sweetie's parents would let her buy a full dive set. And unlike most anime parents, they'd probably stay with Sweetie, rather than leave the house to herself. Since Maud is an adult and already out on her own, she has a bit more leeway with getting into ALO.
A sweet little story, but what I as a swed finds the funiest is that a good chunk of runestones ar basicaly just glorified billbords.
Yes runic commersials. HAHAHA
5652032
Sorry, I meant to expand on that. Yes, Maud finding an amulet or magic item would fit in the EQG world. I won't be visiting the real world while they are in SAO.
5652033
The Amusphere is different enough from the NerveGear. The biggest issue is actually getting it out of the country. It wasn't automatically available everywhere in the globe. Argus had enough trouble keeping it on the shelves for SAO. It does, but it takes a while. And it would be a lot more expensive in Canterlot for a while than in Japan because of shipping costs. I could see Sweetie Bell and the Crusaders playing ALO too.
5652035
I was aware they were mostly bragging about their adventures. The fun thing, to me, is Maud not studying the runes, but the stones themselves to try and understand how the stones can retain the message so long and why they were chosen.
I recently found some fan-art inspired by one of the video game/anime/manga industry's most popular fictional depictions of King Arthur, Artoria Pendragon (also drawing inspiration of the Mulan legend about the female warrior posing as a man...... or maybe the gender was embellished since her time due to the "king" title being originally genderless?)
https://typemoon.fandom.com/wiki/Artoria_Pendragon_(Saber)
https://fategrandorder.fandom.com/wiki/Artoria_Pendragon
What interested me was this fan-art artist drew two versions of her. One depicted her in a Romano-Britain or Migration Period attire and weapons, while the other depicted her in a High Medieval armour with Excalibur being a two-handed longsword.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQmnU5sVsAY6jCC?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQmnU5wUYAEa4Zj?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQmnU53VEAM7dBh?format=jpg&name=large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQmnU6BVsAQxQy6?format=jpg&name=large
What do you think of the fan-art artist's take on using both period's proper attires and weapons?
5655902
Britain's kings have always been a male gender role, however, European monarchies were not always led by a king. The queen might be the real head of state. Mulan is an old tale, very fascinating, with several different versions in Chinese History. There are like 6 endings, ranging from death on the battlefield, to being found out, to never being found out and serving for life, or being found out and still serving. It reinforces a lot of Chinese worldview about family, honor, duty, and courage. Disney's animated version has its own retelling, but I think they did a good job at capturing what Mulan is supposed to convey. I've not seen the live action yet.
I have not played Fate, but I wish I had. Saber is awesome. King Arthur is a fascinating study which says a lot about England, and later on the French. With Arthur being the Once and Future King, there is a lot of possibilities. Merlin was a great series, tragically cut short by funding. There are some cool adaptions for female Arthurs. Fate is one of them. Arthur needs to be grounded in "manliness." In many ways, the western view of manhood is epitomized in Arthur. When those are upheld, female versions of the story can be amazing and fun to read, but regardless of sex, if you deviate from that, it fails. It isn't Arthur. Merlin got away with it because it was a young Arthur, learning to become king, while he still was prince. So he could be an ass (and we love him for it), but it only works because there would be moments when he would step past those shortcomings of his youth and shine out as the king Britain needed. You know the potential is there.
The last four images were great. Well done pieces. I love the Roman fusion done with the armor. The second one, with her fully standing up, sword drawn, cloak flapping and clean, no blood, is my favorite. There are some things I could nitpick, but they have a great sense of the human body, its poses, its stretch and limitations, and of weapons and armor of the medieval age. They fit and flowed, which is what they did historically, not like so many people draw now. That artist is good at what they did.
5656035
Thanks for replying. I really enjoyed reading your reply and personal opinions on the contents. Maybe you'll like this too?
5656036
I will make sure I watch that. I try and respond. I love responding. School is just finishing, yet not, so I've been entirely focused on the last of my classwork.
5656037
Ah, that explains it. Thanks for replying and letting me know.