someone explain to me how Moon still somehow speaks perfectly fluent Raksuran despite last hearing the language before he knew how to fly, which means he was younger than even Frost, Bitter, and Thorn were in ’The Cloud Roads’.
Like, please, imagine for me if Moon’s 30 (40?) year isolation from his culture meant more than him being the Raksuran Equivalent of a Tomboy Warrior Princess.
Imagine Moon having a distinct, strange accent that other Raksura immediately pick up on, because he’s learned the various Trade Languages all his life and hasn’t spoken Raksuran since he was extremely young.
Imagine Moon not being able to pronounce certain words correctly , stumbling over his words, or getting frustrated when he’s not able to communicate his meaning properly because he’s more fluent in five other languages than he is the language of his birth.
Moon not knowing how to read Raksuran is a nice touch………… except it’s never really impacted him or the plot and it pretty much never comes up because why would it?
The Raksura barely write anything down, Moon never needs to know how to read, it’s never a triumph of learning and self-determination when he’s able to decipher some important writing on the wall that would have been unintelliglble to him just a book or two ago; him trying to learn how to read is just barely mentioned in passing and as far as I can remember he never fully learns to read either, and I read literally all of the books. I legitimately could not tell you if Moon ever truly learned to read Raksuran because it’s literally just not important, either to him as a character or to the plot lol.
Just………. Moon’s been has been seperated from his people since he was too young to fly. And he’s in his 30s or 40s. Him being an Outsider and an oddity to Raksuran cultural norms would have been so much more believable if he couldn’t talk the talk or walk the walk, not just him being uncomfortable because he’s experiencing Role Reversal Misogyny, and doesn’t know Raksuran body language, and keeps threatening to eat people as a scare tactic and then gets mad when people are afraid he’s going to eat them.
Isn’t it really funny how Pearl brought Moon into the Colony’s hive mind / Colony Connection in “The Cloud Roads” just to forcibly rip him back out of it again as an insult, and he was never, ever brought back into it and this is never, ever mentioned or brought up again ?
~
Moon tried to shift, meaning to fly straight up the air shaft. Nothing happened.
Moon’s mouth went dry. So Stone hadn’t exaggerated; she could keep them from shifting. He wished he knew if she was doing it to everyone, or just him.
Stone’s voice was neutral, his tone giving nothing away. “Pearl, this is Moon.”
She beckoned him forward with one deceptively delicate hand. Her claws were longer than his, and she wore rings on each finger, thick bands of gold woven with copper and silver.
It wasn’t until the back of her hand brushed his cheek that Moon realized he had taken two steps toward her, that he was within her reach. Her claws moved through his hair, the touch too light to scratch, and she cupped the back of his head, drawing him closer. Moon looked into her eyes, heavy-lidded, sea-blue, and fathoms-deep, drawing him in. Her scent was strong and musky, but there was a trace of bitterness under it, too faint for him to place. It brought him back to his senses abruptly, and he tried to pull away from her. But sudden heat warmed his body, the tension flowing out of his spine.
That she could keep them all from shifting meant she was connected to them somehow, through mind or heart or something else, and Moon should have realized that. Should have realized the connection could go both ways. For a moment it was as if he was part of every other Raksura in the room, and he leaned toward her.
Then, as if she had judged it for the exact moment she felt his resistance fade, she said, “This was the best you could do.” Her tone was calm, the warm purr of her voice unchanged. Moon blinked, so caught in her spell that for a heartbeat he didn’t understand. The whole room seemed to take a startled breath.
In that same tone, she continued, “A solitary, with no bloodline.” Understanding hit him like a sudden slap. He jerked backward, but her hold on him tightened, her claws digging into his skin. Moon twisted out of her grip, the claws opening cuts across the back of his neck, snagging in the collar of his shirt. He fell back a few steps, out of her reach, baring his teeth.
Her lip curled, showing her fangs, and her tail lashed; growls echoed from the assembled warriors perched on the ledges, as if she was the one who had been insulted.
Moon spun on his heel, hissing up at them, furious and humiliated and ready to fight everybody in the room. The growls stopped as the warriors stirred uneasily. Apparently nobody wanted to fight, at least not while they were all trapped in groundling form.
“I didn’t bring him for you,” Stone said, his voice dry and acid in the silence.
The words broke the spell. Moon took a sharp breath, trying to clear his head and make himself think. He couldn’t feel that pull toward Pearl anymore, that connection to the others. There and gone so briefly, it had still left an empty place in his chest, as if something had been torn out of him.
It was pure cruelty to let him feel that, to draw him into that, just to rip him away.
~
Like. Isn’t this just horrifying? Pearl brought him into the colony only as long as it took to insult him , and the second she found out he wasn’t for her , she ripped him back out of the connection.
And he’s never brought back into it.
Pearl never brings him back in to the connection.
Jade never even tries to bring him in once she becomes the Sister Queen.
Is it really any surprise that Moon feels like he doesn’t belong with the colony, even years later?
He literally is literally magically excluded from the entire rest of the colony.
It doesn’t matter how much the arbora or Chime or even Jade reassure him he’s wanted, tell him that he belongs – Pearl decided to bring him in, show him what it truely means to be bonded to the colony, and then ripped him out of it again , and never made any attempt to bring him back into it properly, and Jade never did either.
Either only the Reigning Queen can make that decision, or Pearl just straight up never taught Jade how to do it, so Jade is probably completely unaware that this is even a problem. Moon probably doesn’t even consciously remember it, but that’s gotta be a huge impact on his interactions and relationship with the colony at large from that moment going forward.
No wonder he constantly feels that he’s going to get kicked out if he can’t prove his worth [as a baby making trophy wife].
His presence in the colony is that of a stranger, of a visitor, as someone temporary, someone who is at or with the colony, but he is not in the colony.
40,000 years ago, early humans painted hands on the wall of a cave. This morning, my baby cousin began finger painting. All of recorded history happened between these two paintings of human hands. The Nazca Lines and the Mona Lisa. The first TransAtlantic flight and the first voyage to the Moon. Humanity invented the wheel, the telescope, and the nuclear bomb. We eradicated wild poliovirus types 2 and 3. We discovered radio waves, dinosaurs, and the laws of thermodynamics. Freedom Riders crossed the South. Hippies burned their draft cards. Countless genocides, scientific advancements, migrations, and rebellions. More than a hundred billion humans lived and died between these two paintings—one on a sheet of paper, and one on the inside of a cave. At the dawn of time, ancient humans stretched out their hands. And this morning, a child reached back.
I love the fact that when we first saw the sneak peek of this scene, we almost all jumped on the jealousy bandwagon.
I mean, one of the incorrect quotes I made that day became the most popular of all the ones I posted.
Of course, in retrospect, I see Crowley’s expression as one of surprise, even amused surprise, as in, “Angel, you’ve been keeping things from me?” echoing Nina’s phrase, “You’re a dark horse, Mr. Fell.”
First, he probably noticed right away that Aziraphale was uncomfortable, and second, unlike Nina, he knows him well enough to know that the situation is probably not what it seems.
What I also like about this scene is that Aziraphale takes the time to introduce Crowley. And to a stranger, the way he does it leaves no doubt that their relationship is special, both in what he says and in his whole demeanor (the tone of his voice, his immediately more relaxed expression, the way he looks at Crowley).
And I love Crowley’s proud little smile when he addresses Nina.
And I’m probably extrapolating, but the way I feel with Crowley’s smile is, “See, the naked guy friend doesn’t have a name, but I do. I’m the most important person in his life.”
We know why Aziraphale didn’t dwell on the naked man friend’s identity, but Crowley didn’t.
I like the fact that since Crowley has sensed that something is wrong and pieced together the few elements he has, he moves closer to Aziraphale as if to create a more intimate or safe space for Aziraphale to express himself.
And even more, there’s the way he asks his questions, the tone of his voice, there’s no accusation. It gives such a feeling of protectiveness.
Once again, I’m sleep-deprived, so I’ll leave you with my nocturnal ramblings…
me whenenever I remember that disney took legacy character luke ‘when given an ultimatum between being a proper jedi and loving my friends, I chose my friends.’ 'love brought my father back to the light in the final moments of his life’ 'was successful not because I followed the code but bc I followed my heart’ skywalker and turned him into a disillusioned and hardened old man who even mark hamill did not recognize, who turned his back on everyone he loved and made the same mistakes as the jedi before him. luke skywalker would not leave the galaxy in a time of crisis (genocidal maniac kylo) unless he was trapped/forced to, would not turn his back on rey even for a moment, and would not force a baby (grogu) to choose between being a jedi and having the love of his father (mando)
I’m surprised none of the clones had ever been confronted by bounty hunters thinking they were Jango Fett. Like realistically I know everyone in the galaxy is aware that a war is being fought with clones of Jango Fett, but like wouldn’t it be funny if there was dude who was in a coma for all the events of AOT and didn’t know there was this whole clone army of people who looked exactly like this guy who owed him a lot of money.
So I’m like thinking of Rex eating some sandwiches somewhere and suddenly this dude is tackling him to the ground like “FETT YOU OWE ME BIG TIME YOU PIECE OF SHIT” and Rex is like ????? “have you been living under a rock??? I’m not Jango Fett”
Plot twist: This is actually why Jango Fett volunteered to be the clone template, to give himself the ultimate decoy forever.
For reals, it doesn’t even have to be a whole cat.
…That sounded wrong.
Anyway, I have a neighbor who rescued a frostbitten, bedraggled little kitten with a badly injured leg, he had to have some amputations done at the vet’s and though Admiral Nelson has some battle scars, he’s the dearest, cuddliest tri-paw’d, one-eyed, half-tailed thing ever, and sure enough, the judges considered him Best in Class for his personality and demeanor. He didn’t just get a ribbon, but a little medal and he did so well at the cat show, that’s how come my neighbor decided to get him formally certified as a therapy cat. Now he has a little vest, and alternately a sort of navy uniform one with a pinned-up sleeve, and when humans are dealing with orthopedic surgery, amputations, even just being unwell in general at a rehabilitation facility where my neighbor works, they sometimes get to spend time with him and often feel quite a bit better.
There was an awkwardness when a nurse had a tuna salad sandwich at the charge desk, the Admiral decided to leave his sleeping patient and go inquire if a deserving cat might have a quick bite between watches, a different patient spotted him in his naval uniform and was worried her medication was causing hallucinations, but apart from that, the little guy does awfully good work and is a popular fellow.
