City Series:Volume7a Chapter9
Chapter 9: Artists[edit]
2002 spring
Page 1[edit]
- Keep Regular Hours
[Bendaughter sits up in bed after waking up]
Good morning. I know this is sudden, but this is Bendaughter.
Today, I am staying in the lodgings for SF’s Earth Dragon Godquake Countermeasure Committee.
They say the dragon will activate during the day today, so everyone has gathered here to deal with it.
My harp is being modified so they can create some kind of Super Something Cannon.
I don’t get it myself, but its power is supposed to be its selling point.
But those modifications mean my harp has been removed from the clocktower I call home.
It is a shame I can’t spend the night there…
Oh, I just fell asleep.
Sorry.
Page 2[edit]
- Box Lunch
When I head out, the City Hall people bring in some breakfast.
They say it is for all the international visitors.
They generally head into the city to eat, but most everyone has been evacuated from the city with the Godquake happening today.
“All this food costs an awful lot, you know?”
I receive one of them too.
It contains fried oysters, salad, and bread.
I recall that Mr. Fujiura loves fried oysters.
He calls them Kaki Fry.
[Bendaughter views the fried oyster on her fork]
Page 3[edit]
- Confabulation
[Follett, Singlehorn, and the German representative (Bermark Eins) speak while they eat]
I decided to take a break and find Singlehorn speaking with the German Representative (who commands an aerial ship) and the French Representative (who pilots a Heavy Barrel).
“To maintain air superiority, I would like a force that knows this city’s skies and can freely move through or stop in the air,” said the German.
He wants help from the winged species more than aircraft.
“We may have been able to do more if our Agency wasn’t so terrified of Death Techno.”
According to Singlehorn, Sarah would be the best person for that job, but she ran into trouble during a layover on her flight back from Hong Kong and no one knows where she is.
Page 4[edit]
- From Around the World
Breakfast time is over now.
The trash goes in the trashcan.
I go to the park’s trash area while speaking with the French Representative about Sein Fraus and about her teacher who travels all around the world.
The other representatives accompany me with their own trash.
I end up speaking with the British woman, with whom I was already acquainted, and the Japanese girl.
We wait our turn for the garbage truck while holding our own bags of burnable trash.
The four of us discuss all sorts of things.
They apparently all met Sarah in Hong Kong, so we talk about Sarah’s drinking and her mother.
The British woman has apparently been “making a killing” playing poker at the camp during the night.
“Once she gets back, we should all go out to eat together. I found a great British restaurant here.”
[Gleun and Kugiri stand in the park]
Page 5[edit]
- Go Nowhere Meeting
Then everyone is called to a meeting.
We still have some time until the Earth Dragon’s activation, but they want to hear our opinions.
The international representatives double-check their roles with Grand Mam.
“If that happens, you need to go all out and hit it with a good ‘wham!’ ”
“I really think a ‘bam!’ would be better than a ‘wham!’.”
“No, wait. You aren’t taking into account the job we have to do afterwards. You need more of a ‘f-fwam!’ there.”
[Grand Mam and several men hold a meeting over a map]
It doesn’t look like they are getting anywhere, so I and the three representatives with me exchange exasperated looks.
“No, you need to go for a ‘kaboom!’ there!”
“Good point. Give it a nice, painful ‘boom!’ ”
“Yes, that’s right. Go for a, um, uh, you know, like this!”
Like what?
Page 6[edit]
- Remodeling
Meanwhile, it’s time for the final adjustments to my main body, so a City Hall person comes to speak with me.
“What vocalization do you want for creating the bullets? Something with a lot of destructive power would be best.”
“Like what?”
“You know, like those noises you make at the midpoint of your song in the morning. Especially those F notes that are terribly out of tune.”
“Am I being bullied?”
At any rate, she wants me to shout something that stars with an F note.
“How about ‘fried oyster’?”
“You plan to defeat the dragon yelling that?”
The City Hall person doesn’t seem to like it, but she jots it down on the paperwork.
“Fffffffried oyster!”
You don’t have to extend the out-of-tune note like that.
[Bendaughter thinks in front of Army with her modified harp in the background]
Pages 7-8[edit]
- Jump
[Bendaughter, Army, Plainy, Gleun, and Follett sit around a table chatting. Gleun is smiling and Follett is angry]
We have some time leftover, so we all gather together again and talk about Sarah.
“I hear she’s gone missing.”
“She isn’t a bad person, though.”
“She isn’t bad, but she has problems.”
“Maybe she does, but I can forgive any nonhuman that isn’t a Werecat.”
“Oh? But I’m a Werecat.”
“British Werecats are particularly unforgivable. Especially ones who are good at poker.”
“You got taken to the cleaners last night, didn’t you?”
[Beretta hops onto the far end of the table]
- Drink
[Gleun laughs, Follett is even more angry, the rest have a sweat drop]
“I wonder if that idiot is in heaven by now.”
“Are you saying she’s dead?”
“We sure are calm with such a big event coming up today. I mean, we might die.”
“Have you all said goodbye to your special someone?”
“I’m grabbing some more snacks before we start talking about guys.”
“Oh? I never said a word about it having to be a guy.”
“This is why I can’t stand you Brits!”
[Beretta lies among the snacks on the table and Sarah grabs a drink at the far end of the table]
- Surprise
[Beretta is now on the table in front of everyone, much to their shock or confusion]
“Now, now. How about we eat some more snacks?”
“Huh? What’s this fox doing here.”
“He looks so much like the one we have at home. And I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.”
“…Eh?”
[Sarah enjoys her drink at the far end of the table]
Pages 9-10[edit]
- Why!?
“Whoa!”
[Everyone looks over in shock to see Sarah at the tent entrance]
“What are you doing here!?”
Page 11[edit]
- Nod the Head
“I’m not sure what to say. I had some trouble at a layover, but they said there was a transport plane I could take.”
[Sarah shrugs with a carefree smile]
“But they aren’t meant for passengers, so it was going to fly straight here.”
- Holding
“And we couldn’t have the Health Department’s ace all tired when I got back, so I made sure I had some drinks, a bed, and a down blanket before I got on board.”
[Army and Plainy drag Sarah out of the tent]
“Oh, and I’m charging it as a business expense, so I made sure to get a receipt.”
- Yank In
“And then- hey, hey, hey, hey. Are you even listening? Are you? Am I being arrested? Is that what this is?”
[They continue dragging her away]
“Are you going to lock me up?”
Page 12[edit]
- Oyster Fritters
Anyway, the Earth Dragon starts up with an altered art style. After beating it up and destroying it, we need to return the ley lines to normal.
The ground quakes and our guardian deity Thunderbird is drawn giant for a preemptive strike.
We need to head out and fight soon.
[Bendaughter and Beretta watch Sarah being dragged away by Army and Plainy with a silly-looking Earth Dragon bursting from the ground and a giant Thunderbird in the background]
“Oh, her breakfast.”
I leave Sarah’s breakfast with Beretta.
Only one thing really matters here: the password is Fried Oysters.
The end of image.
Finish
Kawa-Commentary[edit]
Chapter 9: Artists
- General
This is the only chapter with the entire thing told from another person’s (person?) point of view.
- Page 1
The window has two levels and this is the view from the upper window. Since she has to look up at the sun, she must have slept in. The lodgings are at a city recreation facility on a mountain near the big cherry tree.
- Page 2
The background is a box lunch, but I actually researched American box lunches for this and they were quite dynamic. All their delivery boxed lunches were something like two whole sandwiches, an entire fist-sized potato, an entire tomato, and muscat grapes. The whole tomato is probably because it wouldn’t be as fresh if it was cut.
Compared to that, this lunch is quite modest.
- Page 3
They are eating breakfast in the park next to the recreation facility. Follett is the only one still eating because she overslept. Come to think of it, this is a rare shot because it shows the French and German representatives together.
- Page 4
You can probably tell by comparing the background to the chain-link fence on page 3, but this is the other side of the park. A talk with those two is probably about Japan, but I wonder what they’re specifically discussing.
- Page 5
You can probably tell from the light fixture, but they are in a prefab building. As a side note, I sometimes have discussions like this in my planning meetings.
- Page 6
Benny being modified. It’s basically the harp with a shell added on. That keeps the sound from escaping and adding sound reflection boards and other reinforcements increases the precision of the sound. The conversion into another kind of power is done by the external machinery. When she uses it, Benny is surrounded by a canopy that acts like a miniature studio. There is a large cannon on the top, but you can only see the back end of it here… The various maintenance hatches are currently sitting open, but they will all be closed in the end. The edges of the hatches are black because they’re covered by a material that keeps sound from escaping.
- Pages 7-8
A scene in the break tent. There is a cooler full of drinks on the left, but you can see a container of military firearms beyond that. A reference copy of the mission overview is taped to whiteboard. Can you tell where the Earth Dragon will be coming from? And on the left paper, you can see Glean, Kugiri, and “Sarah?” listed as the first group.
But they’re going to gain weight if they keep eating and drinking like this…
- Pages 9-10
The building visible in the back is the recreation facility. With just this image, you would think they were going camping, wouldn’t you?
- Page 11
Nothing to say here. Hmm.
- Page 12
The pattern on the ground below the Earth Dragon is a ley line redirection emblem meant to guide the dragon’s appearance to that point. It’s actually extremely detailed, but it looks more abstract since it’s way in the background.
Is Thunderbird angry because he sees himself as SF’s protector or because chickens like to bully snakes? It’s hard to say.
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