Fanfic: Gnosis (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Jul. 16th, 2006 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nebroadweTitle: Gnosis
Fandom: FMA (manga version, slightly AU)
Character(s): Scar's older brother
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Warnings: None. Based on information contained in chapter 58 of the manga, but taking place prior to that point. If you know who Scar's brother is, this story spoils nothing. (If the idea that religious belief is compatible with intellectual pursuits gives you cognitive dissonance, however, you may want to stop reading now.)
A/N: My thanks to the shade of this world's Edward Curtis Hill, from whose Text-Book of Chemistry for Students of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry (1906) I have cribbed and adapted quotations for an Amestrian Text-Book of Alchemy. This piece was composed before chapter 61 of the manga was released, in which it is revealed that both of Scar's parents are alive during the war in Ishbal. Unfortunately, I can see no way to revise the story to include this fact; fortunately, my artistic license is still current. Crossposted from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nebroadwe to Hoellenbeck (i.e. hagaren_manga, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fm_alchemist, fullservicefma, fma_gen, fma_writers, and fma_fiction).
Dedication: For my fellow Orphans, especially Kristin and Scott.
He takes a crowbar to the lid of the wooden packing case, carefully easing it up. If he doesn't break the box, he can use it to store the books it contains, shipped at no small expense from the publisher in Amestris. The nails squeal as he levers them free; he winces, hoping the noise won't wake his little brother in the next room, and then chuckles to himself. The epithet is habitual, but his "little" brother is now not merely taller but broader than he, sporting the heavy muscles of a manual laborer. Healthy exercise is one of the only advantages to ditch-digging -- that and the work's existence. The task is exhausting and the pay pitiful, but few honorable ways remain for the sons of Ishbala (even those trained for better things, like the priesthood) to earn their bread.
He sets the crate's lid aside and lifts out the books one by one. Once, he thinks, boys followed their fathers or uncles into the family trade; later, when the old ways began to fail, anyone with any ambition rolled his possessions in a blanket and left for the cities to the west. He considered doing that himself when he was younger, but by then it was too late. The letters home from his cousins spoke not of streets paved with gold but signs reading NO ISHBALANS NEED APPLY ... of crowded tenements and harassment in alleys ... of grinding poverty and dying dreams ... and then there were no more letters. He sighs and opens the topmost volume on the stack he has created: A Text-Book of Alchemy by Edward Curtis Hill.
Alchemy is that branch of natural science which treats of the intimate composition of matter, the changes in composition and the principles governing such changes. It is, therefore, the most rational of sciences, since it seeks to find an ultimate reason for every natural phenomenon.
But he's lucky, he believes: he managed to work his way through secondary school to a diploma before his father died. This far, no further, he remembers thinking at the funeral, as if his dreams of scholarship had gone into the ground with the coffin. When the elders who came to condole with them mentioned that the mathematics master at the district primary school would be retiring soon, he recognized a conspiracy to benefit his mother, not him. Nevertheless, he acquiesced, sitting the certification exam and passing easily, serving as the old man's assistant without pay for four months, and then slipping into his position as much by squatter's right as by his own talent.
Every day since he has walked four miles from his home in Debir to the market-town of Kirjath to teach basic computation to small children and algebra, geometry, even a little calculus to the older ones -- those few who stay to graduate at fifteen. Not one in fifty continues on to secondary school now, no matter how he encourages them. They have no money and, worse, no initiative. Why bother? they ask him. I don't want to be a doctor or a teacher. What's the point?
Natural philosophy differs from alchemy in that it treats of the forces and motions of matter in the mass rather than its final components. The two sciences are, however, closely related, and an elementary understanding of natural philosophy, or physics, is essential to the understanding of alchemy.
The question "Why learn?" always stops him; he cannot imagine not wanting to learn. The world is for knowing: everything in it, no matter how trivial or twisted, reveals the mind of the Maker. Nothing is wasted, nothing evil at its roots -- only distorted by bad husbandry. The first duty of all human beings, he believes, is to dress the world Ishbala has seeded and to do that, they must first understand how God's garden grows. He is a passionate seeker of connections; his students know that they can always distract him with philosophical questions (What is infinity, teacher?). They do not guess, smirking at each other as they lay down their pencils to listen to his sometimes stumbling answers, that he welcomes the opportunity to put aside fractions and teach them about wholeness. Especially now, when the world around them seems to be falling apart.
The general or essential properties or qualities inherent to all matter are the following: indestructibility, extension, attraction, weight, divisibility, impenetrability, porosity, compressibility, elasticity, inertia and mobility.
He began to investigate alchemy because his students seemed unable to winnow fact from rumor when it came to matters Amestrian. Lies breed like maggots, destroying the truths they feed on. He cannot determine who started the fight at Sarosh that ended with four -- or was it six? -- men dead, but he can retrieve the first volume of the Encyclopedia Amestrida (ed. 1902) from the library and put any misconceptions about alchemists to rest. No, they don't engage in blood sacrifice to raise the dead -- they know that's impossible. Yes, it is possible to transmute lead into gold, but the practice is forbidden. No, I don't know why -- so he tried to find out. To his surprise, he discovered a nobility in the science, a commitment to reason and a tradition of service, that gave him, for the first time in years, hope. The elders tend to blame the Amestrians' intransigence on their lack of belief in God. No evangelist, he thinks the problem less fundamental: they've lost sight of their own teachings. Alchemy affirms that a substance must be transmuted in conformity with its natural properties. Had the Amestrians truly attempted to comprehend Ishbal, they would not be seeking to remake it against the grain of its own being. Perhaps, he dares to believe, they only need to be reminded of this.
So he ordered the volumes that now sit in his house. If he can learn alchemy, it may be that he can build a bridge of understanding between his people and their governors. A romantic project, he knows, and far too large for one man, but he doesn't intend to work alone. He is, after all, a teacher. Running his hand along the books' leather spines, he considers the people with whom he can share this new knowledge. They must, as he does, be able to draw a distinction between the practice of alchemy, banned by the elders, and the study of the subject. His attempt at reconciliation will fail before it begins if he alienates his own kin over a misunderstanding.
Two or more substances may be unsuitable for combination because of physic dissociation or immiscibility, chemic decomposition or therapeutic antagonism. Such incompatibilities must be identified before attempting a transmutation in order to prevent a rebound.
The ceiling light blinks out. He sighs again. This has been happening more and more frequently; the same substation that provides power to the Amestrian garrison also serves the town. He wonders if the saboteurs who cut the lines know or care that the garrison has back-up generators and Debir does not. He lets his eyes dark-adjust, then takes down the oil lamp from the shelf and strikes a match to set the wick alight. The flame does little to push the shadows off the page and he gives up when he feels the first twinges of a headache, carefully returning all the books to their box. Perhaps he is deluding himself, as his younger brother insists. Perhaps no one will listen to a small-town schoolmaster flirting with heresy. Perhaps he is risking his soul to no good end. He doesn't believe in forbidden knowledge, but he knows that human beings meddle with the world and with each other at their peril. The road to hell is paved with the corpses of those who thought themselves right and mortared with the blood of their victims. He puts his hands together and prays, as he does daily, for wisdom and humility. Cleanse my heart, he begs Ishbala, sharpen my wits -- tell me what to do!
He hears no whisper of approval, but neither does his certainty of purpose receive any check. The books will still be there when the sun rises; a four-mile walk allows plenty of time for reading. He blows out the lamp and seeks his bed, composing his mind for sleep.
[Disclaimers: Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) was created by Arakawa Hiromu and is serialized monthly in Shonen Gangan (Square Enix). Copyright for this property is held by Arakawa Hiromu and Square Enix. All rights reserved.]
Fandom: FMA (manga version, slightly AU)
Character(s): Scar's older brother
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Warnings: None. Based on information contained in chapter 58 of the manga, but taking place prior to that point. If you know who Scar's brother is, this story spoils nothing. (If the idea that religious belief is compatible with intellectual pursuits gives you cognitive dissonance, however, you may want to stop reading now.)
A/N: My thanks to the shade of this world's Edward Curtis Hill, from whose Text-Book of Chemistry for Students of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry (1906) I have cribbed and adapted quotations for an Amestrian Text-Book of Alchemy. This piece was composed before chapter 61 of the manga was released, in which it is revealed that both of Scar's parents are alive during the war in Ishbal. Unfortunately, I can see no way to revise the story to include this fact; fortunately, my artistic license is still current. Crossposted from
nebroadwe to Hoellenbeck (i.e. hagaren_manga, fm_alchemist, fullservicefma, fma_gen, fma_writers, and fma_fiction).Dedication: For my fellow Orphans, especially Kristin and Scott.
"I can praise God with an intelligent thought."
-- Hermann Behrens, S.C.J. (1944-1996)
He takes a crowbar to the lid of the wooden packing case, carefully easing it up. If he doesn't break the box, he can use it to store the books it contains, shipped at no small expense from the publisher in Amestris. The nails squeal as he levers them free; he winces, hoping the noise won't wake his little brother in the next room, and then chuckles to himself. The epithet is habitual, but his "little" brother is now not merely taller but broader than he, sporting the heavy muscles of a manual laborer. Healthy exercise is one of the only advantages to ditch-digging -- that and the work's existence. The task is exhausting and the pay pitiful, but few honorable ways remain for the sons of Ishbala (even those trained for better things, like the priesthood) to earn their bread.
He sets the crate's lid aside and lifts out the books one by one. Once, he thinks, boys followed their fathers or uncles into the family trade; later, when the old ways began to fail, anyone with any ambition rolled his possessions in a blanket and left for the cities to the west. He considered doing that himself when he was younger, but by then it was too late. The letters home from his cousins spoke not of streets paved with gold but signs reading NO ISHBALANS NEED APPLY ... of crowded tenements and harassment in alleys ... of grinding poverty and dying dreams ... and then there were no more letters. He sighs and opens the topmost volume on the stack he has created: A Text-Book of Alchemy by Edward Curtis Hill.
Alchemy is that branch of natural science which treats of the intimate composition of matter, the changes in composition and the principles governing such changes. It is, therefore, the most rational of sciences, since it seeks to find an ultimate reason for every natural phenomenon.
But he's lucky, he believes: he managed to work his way through secondary school to a diploma before his father died. This far, no further, he remembers thinking at the funeral, as if his dreams of scholarship had gone into the ground with the coffin. When the elders who came to condole with them mentioned that the mathematics master at the district primary school would be retiring soon, he recognized a conspiracy to benefit his mother, not him. Nevertheless, he acquiesced, sitting the certification exam and passing easily, serving as the old man's assistant without pay for four months, and then slipping into his position as much by squatter's right as by his own talent.
Every day since he has walked four miles from his home in Debir to the market-town of Kirjath to teach basic computation to small children and algebra, geometry, even a little calculus to the older ones -- those few who stay to graduate at fifteen. Not one in fifty continues on to secondary school now, no matter how he encourages them. They have no money and, worse, no initiative. Why bother? they ask him. I don't want to be a doctor or a teacher. What's the point?
Natural philosophy differs from alchemy in that it treats of the forces and motions of matter in the mass rather than its final components. The two sciences are, however, closely related, and an elementary understanding of natural philosophy, or physics, is essential to the understanding of alchemy.
The question "Why learn?" always stops him; he cannot imagine not wanting to learn. The world is for knowing: everything in it, no matter how trivial or twisted, reveals the mind of the Maker. Nothing is wasted, nothing evil at its roots -- only distorted by bad husbandry. The first duty of all human beings, he believes, is to dress the world Ishbala has seeded and to do that, they must first understand how God's garden grows. He is a passionate seeker of connections; his students know that they can always distract him with philosophical questions (What is infinity, teacher?). They do not guess, smirking at each other as they lay down their pencils to listen to his sometimes stumbling answers, that he welcomes the opportunity to put aside fractions and teach them about wholeness. Especially now, when the world around them seems to be falling apart.
The general or essential properties or qualities inherent to all matter are the following: indestructibility, extension, attraction, weight, divisibility, impenetrability, porosity, compressibility, elasticity, inertia and mobility.
He began to investigate alchemy because his students seemed unable to winnow fact from rumor when it came to matters Amestrian. Lies breed like maggots, destroying the truths they feed on. He cannot determine who started the fight at Sarosh that ended with four -- or was it six? -- men dead, but he can retrieve the first volume of the Encyclopedia Amestrida (ed. 1902) from the library and put any misconceptions about alchemists to rest. No, they don't engage in blood sacrifice to raise the dead -- they know that's impossible. Yes, it is possible to transmute lead into gold, but the practice is forbidden. No, I don't know why -- so he tried to find out. To his surprise, he discovered a nobility in the science, a commitment to reason and a tradition of service, that gave him, for the first time in years, hope. The elders tend to blame the Amestrians' intransigence on their lack of belief in God. No evangelist, he thinks the problem less fundamental: they've lost sight of their own teachings. Alchemy affirms that a substance must be transmuted in conformity with its natural properties. Had the Amestrians truly attempted to comprehend Ishbal, they would not be seeking to remake it against the grain of its own being. Perhaps, he dares to believe, they only need to be reminded of this.
So he ordered the volumes that now sit in his house. If he can learn alchemy, it may be that he can build a bridge of understanding between his people and their governors. A romantic project, he knows, and far too large for one man, but he doesn't intend to work alone. He is, after all, a teacher. Running his hand along the books' leather spines, he considers the people with whom he can share this new knowledge. They must, as he does, be able to draw a distinction between the practice of alchemy, banned by the elders, and the study of the subject. His attempt at reconciliation will fail before it begins if he alienates his own kin over a misunderstanding.
Two or more substances may be unsuitable for combination because of physic dissociation or immiscibility, chemic decomposition or therapeutic antagonism. Such incompatibilities must be identified before attempting a transmutation in order to prevent a rebound.
The ceiling light blinks out. He sighs again. This has been happening more and more frequently; the same substation that provides power to the Amestrian garrison also serves the town. He wonders if the saboteurs who cut the lines know or care that the garrison has back-up generators and Debir does not. He lets his eyes dark-adjust, then takes down the oil lamp from the shelf and strikes a match to set the wick alight. The flame does little to push the shadows off the page and he gives up when he feels the first twinges of a headache, carefully returning all the books to their box. Perhaps he is deluding himself, as his younger brother insists. Perhaps no one will listen to a small-town schoolmaster flirting with heresy. Perhaps he is risking his soul to no good end. He doesn't believe in forbidden knowledge, but he knows that human beings meddle with the world and with each other at their peril. The road to hell is paved with the corpses of those who thought themselves right and mortared with the blood of their victims. He puts his hands together and prays, as he does daily, for wisdom and humility. Cleanse my heart, he begs Ishbala, sharpen my wits -- tell me what to do!
He hears no whisper of approval, but neither does his certainty of purpose receive any check. The books will still be there when the sun rises; a four-mile walk allows plenty of time for reading. He blows out the lamp and seeks his bed, composing his mind for sleep.
[Disclaimers: Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) was created by Arakawa Hiromu and is serialized monthly in Shonen Gangan (Square Enix). Copyright for this property is held by Arakawa Hiromu and Square Enix. All rights reserved.]
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 12:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 01:19 am (UTC)That was the idea that got me going -- that and the picture of him with all the books in chapter 58. (Okay, what I actually thought was, "I don't want to keep writing the obvious characters; I ought to do something with someone really obscure, like Scar's older brother from the manga. [pause] Naaah -- we don't know anything about him; there wouldn't be anything to write." Four days later ... :-)
... I love that he is portrayed here as a sane man with only the best of intentions ...
My beta-reader had a little trouble with this, not being conversant with the manga version of events. The right context does wonders for interpretation. :-) I wanted his intentions to be good, but I also wanted to have just a little sense that he's at the top of the slippery slope -- that if he keeps on, he'll end up finding a perfectly logical justification for practicing alchemy, not just studying it, even though that puts him in conflict with the religious tradition to which he remains loyal. (As, in fact, he does.) [wry] It's the kind of attitude that breeds major breakthroughs in theology or autos-da-fe -- and sometimes both. [/wry]
... this is definitely a must-read fic!
Hopefully also a must-comment fic! Love the comments, just love them, good, bad or indifferent -- always want to know what people think! [hums happily]
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 01:46 am (UTC)I'm adding this to my memories. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 01:50 pm (UTC)So does Scar! Personal names I didn't dare invent (one small scruple in a sea of imaginative elaboration).
And you're right, there isn't a lot we know about him, which makes him all the more interesting to explore.
Looks like we get a few more tidbits about both brothers in the current chapter (from what I can make out between the original and your translation). I hope by the time we get the whole story (who did kill Winry's parents, anyway?) this piece will still make some sense ...
Peace.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 11:16 pm (UTC)Scar did. The people in the hospital say he did, and now we see him charging at them with a knife, so... ^^;
Although it also seems that Scar got so buff from his training as a warrior priest. The idea of his brother being a teacher could still work though. :D
no subject
Date: 2006-07-18 12:58 am (UTC)Scar did. The people in the hospital say he did, and now we see him charging at them with a knife, so... ^^;
You think? Your translation has the soldier looking at the aftermath saying, "An Ishbalan might have done it" (not "did it"); we don't actually see the deed being done; and Scar's response to Winry back in chapter 47 is so ambiguous (he only grants her "right" to shoot him without giving an explanation) that I keep wondering whether Arakawa doesn't still have something in reserve here. Mind you, what I thought going in was that she had Kimbley in reserve, but she faked me out on that one quite neatly. I wouldn't be disappointed if it turned out to be Scar after all, but there are enough Things That Aren't What They Seem in this story that I'm not quiiite ready yet to believe it's him. It's the romantic in me.
Although it also seems that Scar got so buff from his training as a warrior priest.
Doesn't rule out moonlighting as a ditch-digger. Priesting is never all that remunerative. :-) But yeah, I read that and said, "Foo!" It might or might not get slipped into the next draft somehow.
Peace.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 01:49 am (UTC)Running his hand along the books' leather spines, he considers the people with whom he can share this new knowledge. They must, as he does, be able to draw a distinction between the practice of alchemy, banned by the elders, and the study of the subject. His attempt at reconciliation will fail before it begins if he alienates his own kin over a misunderstanding.
Such a good point to include and, as far as I am concerned, the heart of the story.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 02:15 pm (UTC)[joins in splashing around in the shallow end of the pool] I've noticed the cute thing myself (it's the glasses, sigh). I'm a sucker for idealistic intellectual men -- any sign of being nurturing as well and I just melt. Hmm. Might explain why this fandom has such appeal for me ... [grin]
Such a good point to include and, as far as I am concerned, the heart of the story.
I found myself thinking of it as his "angels on the head of a pin" moment -- he's drawing a legitimate distinction, but one that many people would resist him over for arguably good reasons. Knowledge is dangerous -- the more you know about something, the easier it is to find your opinions about it shifting, for good or ill. Which can run you right into whatever Received Wisdom your surrounding community holds about the thing you've been studying. Which is, further, why so many communities (religious and otherwise) through the centuries have tried to restrict learning about dicey topics to carefully controlled environments. I don't support intellectual paternalism, but [wry] after the fifty-fifth conversation in which I had to disabuse somebody of the notion that The Da Vinci Code's medieval history is anything like accurate, I understood the impulse that generates it very clearly. [/wry]
Peace.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-18 02:01 am (UTC)*goggles* You mean The Da Vinci Code isn't real? *ducks* But having done research into medieval history for various reasons (doesn't everyone do that sort of thing for fun? No? ...Bueller?), I have to agree with you. It just takes one charasmatic speaker to upset that religious applecart, after all, and Scar's Brother looks like he could be just that guy. If, you know, he wanted to go that way.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-18 02:25 pm (UTC)Of course they do. [pause] Why is everyone staring at me?
no subject
Date: 2006-07-19 12:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 06:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 02:18 pm (UTC)Peace.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 08:29 am (UTC)*mems* ^^
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 02:27 pm (UTC)Peace.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 02:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-17 02:29 pm (UTC)(Cotton, urgh. I'm investigating that for my next 'fic and discovering how very little I know about textiles and how bloody much there is to know ... )
Peace.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-18 02:02 am (UTC)I know a little about that, too...if you want to compare notes. Textiles, that is. Having lived with weavers all my life....
Helpful people are so cool!
Date: 2006-07-18 02:37 pm (UTC)Re: Helpful people are so cool!
Date: 2006-07-19 12:27 am (UTC)But yes, yes, machine woven does feel different than lower-tech. Machine woven is, ah, how to put this..."perfect". Mistakes are less common, the threads literally must be uniform in size for your weft and weave and weight, as opposed to hand woven, where not only can one fudge if necessary but in some cultures, things without mistakes in them are considered too perfect and the gods will be angered by such perfection. *grin*
no subject
Date: 2006-07-18 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-18 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-28 04:03 am (UTC)I think he managed to distill what's wrong with Amestris (beyond the obvious) they've strayed too far from the roots of their own power, the alchemy.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-28 04:32 pm (UTC)Thanks much! Always glad to provide the reading public with what it wants (as long as it wants stories about obscure FMA characters :-).
I think he managed to distill what's wrong with Amestris (beyond the obvious) they've strayed too far from the roots of their own power, the alchemy.
It's the secondary problem, I think. The primary problem is that "Father" (whoever he is) is manipulating Amestrian politics and military action to further his own purposes (whatever they are, but they don't look as if they're aimed toward a greater good -- and even if they were, they'd run slap into ends/means problems). The secondary problem is that not enough people identify what Amestris is up to (in Ishbal and elsewhere) as ill-done and refuse to cooperate. "The only thing necessary to the triumph of evil ... " and all that. It's a familiar, depressing and realistic scenario. I tried to make Scar's brother over-optimistic ("romantic"), but not stupid. Individuals who hoped for bigger victories than seemed possible and went out looking for allies to bring them about are at the bottom of a lot of useful social change, IMO. Of course, that's not where Scar's brother ends up as his story progresses in the manga ...
no subject
Date: 2006-07-31 02:38 pm (UTC)I think you did well in keeping Scar's brother (I really wish we would have gotten the real names for Scar, his brother and Dr Rockbell) in line with the manga. He seemed optimistic there with that hint of romanticism in him, not to mention a sense of duty and a realistic view of his place in the world.
A little gnosis is a dangerous thing?
Now, I just have to ask...is this dedicated to me and the Boy because of the teacher thing, or is it more of a veiled warning, as in, "Don't dabble with the aorist! It can only lead to the paths of doom...." ??
Happy writing!
Re: A little gnosis is a dangerous thing?
Date: 2006-08-01 04:37 pm (UTC)I think it's "dedicatee", actually. [checks OED] Yep, that's it.
The point is...woohoo! Well done. I don't know the back-story, but I'm intrigued. And nervous. I don't know whether to root for our Hero and the always-admirable quest for knowledge, or tell him to put the nice books away, slowly.
Yay! Thanks! Your opinion, as always, is much valued. As for the protagonist, well, in the original work (still ongoing) it's not yet clear what the outcome of his research was ...
This would be the opposite of the "Eight Deadly Words" effect, yes? More like, "Hey, I think I care about these people!"
[rubs hands] Well, if you're interested, half the story-thus-far is available in an English translation (http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=s_sf_b_as/103-2920186-8123011?search-alias=stripbooks&rank=+daterank&field-author=Arakawa%2C%20Hiromu&field-title=Fullmetal%20Alchemist), with the rest to follow. I warn you, though, it's addictive stuff (once you get past the initial set-up, anyway. I have this particular manga pegged as one of the most audacious examples of literary bait-and-switch ever. The first volume and perhaps part of the second look like typical boys' action-adventure heroics ... and then, slowly but surely, Arakawa begins sneaking in a long-term plot, character development, and philosophical musings. People die. Characters are Bujoldianly stressed. Every question answered breeds two more questions. There's even a bona fide Underworld Journey. And I have no idea how it's going to turn out. Whee!).
Now, I just have to ask...is this dedicated to me and the Boy because of the teacher thing, or is it more of a veiled warning, as in, "Don't dabble with the aorist! It can only lead to the paths of doom...." ??
I figure it's well too late to be making stentorian noises about the latter, so it's gotta be the former. :-)
If you wanna look at another story in the same universe which won't spoil you for the original work, try this one (http://nebroadwe.livejournal.com/1925.html). I'd love to hear what you think. [makes author-as-puppy-dog eyes]
Peace.