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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3535070" data-attributes="member: 10079">I do have to say I really love this kind of discussion. I like talking about these characters so much and don't really get the chance to. Let this be a word to any and all others...SPEAK UP DAMMIT! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />That last sentence there is a very very big compliment and leaves me at a loss. I'm not good with compliments. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />Though I do have to agree with liking it despite the two longest running characters isn't as it should be...to a point, it makes sense. To be truthful, the name "Heroes of Another Kind" wasn't just a random title. These guys aren't really heroes. Jyren wants to be, sure, and damn well tries but he fails over and over before he ever really comes through. While I will admit that is a very un-Star Wars quality, it is a much more realistic quality.To be honest, Jyren has a great deal of me in him, which can account for the failings. He may want to be a hero, a great warrior to save the day...but he's so idealistic that he loses sight of what's right in front of him. When this all starts, he's on that path. Everything is perfect and probably would have continued that way had nothing happened...but something always does, and it threw him off completely. So, I guess it could be said that you shouldn't like him, at least not early on. Marix is much the same way, being what would really be a better BBEG type than a main character. But at the point you've reached is where the changes in both of them have really started. Sure, they've been happening slowly the entire time, but their coming together is the real push for both of them to start being something else entirely.Truthfully, the buildup to their relationship was there from the beginning. There are small moments here and there through it all, even much earlier, that bring them closer despite their own difficulties. Admittedly, they are subtle but they're definitely there. Jyren, himself, starts to realize he's falling for her but pushes it away due to still not wanting to let go of the past.But that's the thing about them. There aren't really lies at all...but a ton of misunderstandings. Most come from Marix but she was a child then, and children make stupid choices for stupid reasons. They don't understand things they do. And, to get a bit technical, when Alraxians grow up so fast in the way they do, their body is essentially flooded with hormones...its like puberty in a matter of hours instead of over years. So, for obvious reasons, that only adds to the confusion and she's going to make even worse decisions because of all the chaos going on with her.But through all of the problems they still manage to trust one another. I can understand it being hard to see early on for the two of them, especially since Marix is so unused to being close to anyone. She wants to be, but doesn't understand how to be and so takes her cues from Jyren through the link...which, for obvious reasons, isn't the best place to learn anything. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> There is a point farther along in the story, about a page or so back from here I believe, that solidifies this trust. Maybe it started weak. And, in a way, they were forced together. But it wasn't unwilling, as they both just needed that push and then, over time, learned how to actually be truly together. Of course, this takes time and isn't instant, which to me is the essence of realism. What Jyren and Marix have is a connection that transcends the little things. The hard part for me in writing anything between them is the strength of their relationship is unspoken. There aren't words to even closely describe it, and they know that, too. It sounds cliche, but that's how it is for them. Strong feelings just don't have equivalents when it comes to words, so I'm a bit stuck on that end. So methinks a failure here, for me, is maybe a lack of pushing that part, though I'm still somewhat unsure of HOW to.But if it makes you feel better, I was never a big fan of Lost. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Another big compliment. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />This is a bit of tease, but maybe the reward you're hoping for is a little later in the story. There are definitely a few huge changes in Jyren and Marix's relationship that come later...HUGE ones, and they might very well be that reward. As for geting trounced well...that actually goes away some, too. Early on there aren't as many fights against mook types. You get lots of very dangerous enemies that are specifically aimed to kill them...while later on there start to be more mooks meant for tearing through, and Marix does her fair share of that. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I think the thing to really keep in mind with both of them is that they're still very young. By the point you're at in the story, Jyren's barely over twenty years old. Mare died when he was a teenager. Marix is physically older but technically even younger than him when you get down to the age comparisons. So they're both going to make some very, very stupid childish decisions that make them look inept...that's what young people do. There's a reason so many swear of teenagers and young adults. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />As for the notes on Alraxia...very smart observations. They're also things that become very important at the point the story is at now. The only thing that I feel worth mentioning(as you're dead on right with most all of it), is that the Alraxian Empire is very stable. The other species in it are comfortable in the system and it operates as a utopia, of sorts. That can cause problems, but the one thing they don't have to worry about is any of the species within the Empire defecting, as it were, to the Mrrakesh.Not a thing wrong with that. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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