u/Executioner404

That sounds like a very disturbing, improbably wholesome, but amusing sitcom idea...

But I'm mostly shocked that it's even possible to reply to a 6 year old thread, I guess this subreddit doesn't archive.

That roll of the dice to get the Kennet Trio was the TRUE act of Fate and Karma fudging the dice, Charles was right!

Or hell, maybe the real lesson here is to keep rolling until you win...

Well, if Taylor gets to use her "Summons" then so does Lucy.

And what could a weak little bug girl do in the face of an immortal firing squad covering the arena in fire, smoke, and bullets?

In other words, She can take her.

I feel like there's something missing...

The entire chapter, Mal keeps mentioning Verona and Lucy. Specifically ignoring Avery ("the other one") who isn't involved in Kennet Below, because V & L claimed that town.

They did it practically unopposed by chuck, they beat or recruited the competing warlords, they got tacit approval from nearly ALL residents, they nurtured and grew the place - and they ACTIVELY became the town's guardians and enforcers.

Does he really get to unilaterally wipe it all away just because he made it? Spiritually speaking, I don't think he even has custody anymore.

I kept waiting for Mal to ask for a representative lawyer, and Lucy to slam through the door like: "OBJECTION! Fuck you judge, you're in DEBT to me!"

End of book 2, but yeah.

A lot of the story-fu in early Guide was based on the implication that the reader knows real world fantasy narrative tropes, and assumes that they all have historical basis in Calernia.

At times it was a nice surprise, made it feel like a parody on fairytales that we could theoretically intuit even without anything in the text hinting at it, but I can imagine that for some people it wasn't as fun.

“Being the biggest hypocrite in the world right now, telling you not to kick yourself,” Nora said.

“Nah, you’re not the biggest."

"Trust me, we've met him"

So.... Covenant is now definitely the rejected Sword that popped up at Twilight's Birth, as Fate's last ditch effort to turn Catherine into a genuine Callowan Warrior Queen instead of a villainous warlord, right?

Pretty cool to see such a far future story beat get so much more depth and weight years in advance!

Plus a more explicit cultural basis for the creation of Peregrine.

I just realized, if that really happens then it would be a podcast where someone knowledgable and well-established in the canon (of Practice) talks to a relative beginner as they learn more about it bit by bit...

Matt, I love this!

Verona WOULD totally perform a ritual with Slaygarrrr Who Slavishly Slays that makes her stronger against anyone who refers to her without her full suite of titles...

Lucy fully turned to face her friend, smiling. And as she did, the stance she’d been holding to break the incoming cold disrupted, and there was a stir of wind. Which wasn’t so much magical, right in front of Nora, as just a weirdly well timed, complementary stir of wind and swirl of snow framing her. She saw Nora’s eyes widen.

Man this is such a moment. I love these casual displays of magic so much! Lucy becoming borderline Fae-like in her bulletproof aesthetic feels so Right, too.

At this point, the Spirits probably just think she's so badass that it's obvious she'd look amazing whenever she disrupts her casual, Body-language-Fae-Shamanism that literally twists weather around herself.

That actually sounds like a Lost magic item tbh, and a really powerful one too!

Similar to Giselle's hammer in that there's literally nothing it can't cut (because everything is cake) but the side-effect might mess things up for you.

I bet it would have some annoying requirement or price too, like having to bake one cake for each activation, or having to warm it up to 1000 degrees before use...

You may be joking, but I'm like 90% sure that's literally how the spirits see it.

Verona has some Summoner cachet, and if she focused on it more I imagine a lot of it will just flow naturally for her, compared to something like Peddling which she is still "uninitiated" in.

Not to mention her collaborating on making an Other with THE Summoner

Broke: fight the rigid status quo of the Universe to make changes

Woke: Become an arbiter of the Universe to decide the rules

Bespoke: ALTER THE UNIVERSE ON A FUNDAMENTAL LEVEL TO ERASE YOUR ENEMIES FROM EXISTENCE

Avery is just built different.

I imagine that the lines can get INCREDIBLY blurry with what you can pull off.

Avery and Snowdrop are already an exceptional familiar pair, with borderline telepathy due to how strong their connection is.

I wouldn't be shocked if Verona and Veronya can just have one person in the Demesne, one somewhere doing stuff, and at a moment's notice sprinkle some glamour on the ground to swap places.

Use Lucy's fox trick to convince the Universe it was the other Verona all along!

Holy shit we're actually getting a fourth ritual before the end.

Does this mean a potential Avery Implement / Lucy Demesne then? Avery is getting confident in what she wants to do lately, and Lucy has been pretty certain on where she wants to be for a while now!

Then again, I feel like Veronya 2 might be an exception - a new Demesne / Implement wouldnt get nearly as much screentime and "character development" as the House on Half Street, Snowdrop or the Earring. Verona's Fetch doesn't need screentime.

Pale is in a constant quantum state of "this might be the last arc" and "we're only at the halfway point" and I love it.

but with Words? Once you've grown enough? Feels like you should be able to.

Maybe. I feel like once you've grown enough, it's like fighting an angry child with words. It doesn't really get you anywhere, the Wolf fundamentally can't accept defeat. It'll just choose some other wound to try to stab at, pick on someone weaker, or resort to violence.

That's why I like the "Get to the point that the Wolf's words can't hurt you, that your Traumas / Fears can't hurt you, and just move on with your life" approach.
The Wolf doesn't deserve the confrontation, the conflict.
Hell, it's probably the only thing keeping it going.

...Avery would be forced to take a train that goes to the Forest Ribbon Trail

Oooooh... they have to take TWO trains. This one is with other people, to Cakewalk... next one though? Maybe she'll be forced to.

Oh for sure, I mean Avery's entire character arc is about outgrowing the Wolf. Overcoming trauma and gaining confidence and a secure Self. And she's doing great, this was just magical proof of that!

Still doesn't mean she should be fighting it directly, when given the choice, and she said as much to others in this chapter! I feel like fighting the Wolf is like falling into its own game of prey and predator, when it's not truly necessary.
Avery can just transcend it over time, at her own pace.

That said - it's unlikely, given that the story will probably be ending soon, but I would've really liked for Avery to become the first (modern?) Practitioner to truly finish the Forest Ribbon Trail, including the parts of it that were "locked out" due to the Boon Companion sacrifices.

I forgot that the fireflies aren't friends to deliver safely to a new home, they're just part of Avery now.

Was this ever actually explained by the way? Like did they just decide to stay with her at some point and I missed that line?

I thought she was planning to take them to Kennet Found / Sootsleeves, where they'd feel most at home outside their dying Path.

I'd say that the Wolf is almost like a Self-elemental. Primordial Trauma and Fear given form.

In the same way that you wouldn't fight a Fire elemental with a flamethrower, as long as you have a Self you probably shouldn't be fighting the Wolf...

Unless you can use that as a positive binding somehow, I suppose, which sounds really self-destructive unless you're the incredibly secure and balanced... So, no Wildbow protagonists allowed.

Imagine masturbating to the manifestation of personal trauma / fear itself, mocking you for masturbating to your personal traumas of being mocked...

At that point it might cause a paradox that completely breaks Wolf.exe

the most magical girl costume transition sequence in this story

And it's not even her first one!

Never forget Wolf Warrior Princess Avery.

If a demon wins the contest.... what the fuck happens?

Pretty sure what you get is a moderate "Age of Horrors and Darkness", followed by someone like Durocher sighing and loading their shotguns with menacing intent.

It would likely be a heroic sacrifice, but there are forces out there that can fight off / bind even a Demonic Judge, when sufficiently motivated.

Call yourself an Anti-diabolist cause you're doing Gods' work.

Absolutely wonderful choices and art!

I found that a bit odd too. She still joined in, but not 'formally'.

There's also that old pattern of: Verona's hijinks leading Bristow to his end,
Lucy sort of leading Alexander to his end,
and now a third Headmaster of the Blue Heron, with Avery there as the main person dealing with all those markets they tried to use against him...

And yet over this arc this has turned entirely into a Lucy vs Musser situation, which feels a lot more appropriate to be honest.