276 | aerois, episodes 39-42

[straightforwardly]

High Rollers: Aerois, covering episodes 39-42.

• Well, they went straight for my heart! First with Lucius giving Quill a “gentle hug” as their reunion moment, and then with him very quietly saying, “I thought it was very important to me” when Aila referred to his “are we best friends” question as having been a “silly” question he asked Quill through the speak with spirits spell they used. And also Quill saying that he doesn’t think it was “that silly” even before Lucius spoke up ;_; <3
  
  (Side note, I went back and immediately relistened to that section again before continuing onwards, because Feelings, which I think was the first time I did something like that for this podcast.)



• I was a little disappointed that they decided to not RP the conversation where Aila catches Quill up on everything that’s happened, but I’m glad that they at least did a little RP on the tailend of it, re: Lucius being convinced that his family isn’t actually dead. I would have liked a scene of him learning about the actual deaths as well, but at least we got that.



• Please note my complete lack of surprise at Norfir being revealed to have been a former assassin—after Lucius’ stressing how capable she is in a previous episode, I’d suspected that she’d end up being something along those lines. (And then there’s Lucius, who had no idea, haha.)



• We’ve gotten more details about Lucius’ family dynamic! The kinds of details I crave! That conversation between Norfir & Lucius about his father was delightfully clarifying for me, like all of the thoughts I’ve been having about Lucius’ characterization and backstory hints and all those other puzzle pieces finally clicked into place. I liked the whole, “he might not have been always kind in the traditional sense, but he did care” thing, as well as the detail about while he struggled to understand Lucius, he still wanted what was best for him & his happiness. It feels believable that Lucius could have grown up believing that he was unimportant to his father despite his father genuinely caring about him in his own way, just not expressing it in ways Lucius was able to recognize.
  
  (I do have some vague, still coalescing thoughts about how Lucius having been bullied as a child might tie in with how he presents himself & his confidence in his father at the start of the campaign, before he grew close enough to the group to start feeling comfortable enough to be vulnerable/allow them to see those moments of insecurity. But that requires more time to cook before I can express it fully, as well as possibly also a relisten to those early episodes while taking that backstory into account. )
  
  Also, after taking all of this revealed backstory/family dynamic into account, I’m kind retroactively devastated by how Lucius must have felt inside when, after the airship crash, his father—despite all their family’s money and resources—didn’t come find him. Of course, that was because he died not long after, but to Lucius… that probably did not help with his feeling like he didn’t matter to his father.



• On a lighter note: the cow story is a gift that keeps on giving. I was listening to that part where they tell Norfir about the cow story while waiting at the train station, and let me tell you, it was such a struggle to not just burst out laughing like a maniac in public.



• RIP Lucius’ beautiful long hair ;_; The need for him to go incognito is so cruel to me and my hair kink… My only comfort is that Lucius is just as distressed as I am, and thus will one day, hopefully, see a return of his beautiful hair.



• I do love the conversation around buying armor for Quill—how all of them are just so determined to do whatever they can to see that he does not die on them again.



• I would like to note that I again melted in my feelings re: Quill once more being grievously injured in battle, and Lucius being the one to swoop in and come to his aid. THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS <3 <3 <3



• “Quill, I always look to you for wisdom. That was not wise.” help help help



• Me having feelings about Lucius telling Nova that she and his father would have liked each other. Because yeah, absolutely,. I think she would have fully been ready to throw down with his father if it had turned out that he didn’t appreciate/care about Lucius in the way he deserves, but once that got cleared up? 100%, nerdy bonding time.
  
  ......And as I type this out, I just realized that, based on the two other times we’ve seen Nova indicating interest in someone, there is a… not insignificant chance that she would have ended up crushing on Lucius’ father??? I am picturing Lucius’ response in this alternate timeline now, and am torn because hilarity and asdfghjkl;
  
  I also really liked the detail of Sentry and Aila hanging back while Lucius goes to confirm the truth of his father’s death, while Quill and Nova are with him at his side. Please let me roll around and indulge in my feelings about his friendships with those two in particular ;_;



• MOON STAR IS LUCIUS’ SISTER CALLING IT NOW



• For some context! I finished the episode where Moon Star dramatically swoops down and declares, you are not Lucius Virion-Elluin Elenasto (aka, the scene that garnered the above reaction from me) about five minutes before I walked into work, and so spent most of my work day internally flailing about omg, Lucius’ sister is alive (…and yes, at some point I realized that I was treating this as fact despite the fact it was literally just a theory on my part based on a single line + the timing of when Moon Star’s vigilante activities started), and she thinks he’s an imposter because she believes her brother is dead, and hello iddy delight of a scenario!!!



• Then I started the next episode after work, and some of that rock-solid certainty started to wavered throughout her and Lucius’ conversation. Like, yes, obviously she’s not going to straight up say she’s Edea, since that identity is supposed to be dead. But some of the things she said did make me start to wonder if, instead of Edea, she really was just Edea’s secret girlfriend or something. Which, as much as I like the idea of Lucius’ sister having a girlfriend, was a bit of a disappointing thought in comparison to “supposedly dead sister is actually alive! and believes her brother to be dead and that the person in front of her is an imposter mocking her grief!”
  
  (I also briefly considered, what if it’s actually Elluin, but I felt like that was a lot less likely than Edea. We know nothing about Lucius’ mother, while we do know that Edea had a lot in common with their father, specifically those technological interests that would align well with her becoming a Batman-style vigilante.)
  
  But then, it was also mentioned that Edea had always been secretive, which. Does line up with have a secret masked vigilante identity, lol. So I was still hoping hard for the Edea theory to come true in the end…
  
  …and then their conversation ended without anything being revealed, and I admit it: I couldn’t handle the suspense on that front, so I just looked up vague spoilers. (Specifically, I just checked Edea’s page on the wiki to see whether she showed up as alive/deceased + if she had an episode listed for her “first appearance”.)



• I am having all sorts of feelings about one of the main reasons why she’s convinced that Lucius can’t actually be Lucius is because he’s too capable—that the “real” Lucius was just a “crybaby noble”. And I do sincerely love that the rest of the party is all, ‘yup, that’s him’, because—it is! Lucius is capable, and he’s so much more than he believes—and he’s also a sensitive, good-hearted person who clearly grew up in privileged circumstances.
  
  So there’s something iddy to me about what it says about his relationship with Moon Star, that when she looks at him, that’s all she sees. And at the same time, it gives me feelings that the rest of the party look at him, and see a more fully-faceted image of him—both what Moon Star sees as Lucius, but also more.
  
  /possibly reading entirely too much into this, but look!! you cannot give me a story arc dedicated to my fave and his character and backstory and family dynamics and not expect me to wring everything I can out of every detail I am given



• Also: love Nova objecting to being called a mercenary*. She’s a scholar, damnit!
  
  *in the context of Moon Star saying that the real Lucius never would have associated with mercenaries



• On a very different note: as stated above, I spent a lot of time thinking about Edea during work. Which then had my thoughts turning to the most beloved Edea of my heart, aka Edea from Bravely Default. From everything I’ve gathered about Edea Elenasto, their personalities are for the most part quite different (and in fact Edea Lee does have a few traits that are more like Lucius, in that she’s canonically quick to tears), but they have some parallels in my mind. They seem to share a strong sense of justice, and are fully willing to turn their eyes onto the flaws in their own home city/country without being blinded by sentiment while in the pursuit of said justice… and on a shallower note, both of them are blonde women whose homes require an airship to reach.
  
  It then also occurred to me that the two canons actually mesh fairly well in my head, in terms of crossover potential. Both are fantasy canons featuring airships and class-based magic systems (though I think more explicitly so in Bravely Default).
  
  …It kind of makes me want to pick up my Bravely Default replay from last fall again.



• I love that all of the party are unanimously agreed that Arval would absolutely try to solo Starbane for Valla’s sake if they told him the truth about where she was.
  
  But also, awww at that description of his current state. He cares about them! He was grieving! I’m so glad that they checked in on him and let him know they were alive.



• I am absolutely 100% picturing Helios as Leomon, lol.



• The party starting off travelling by foot, only reaching their destinations after much time and effort, and eventually getting to the point where they obtain an AIRSHIP and can go wherever they want is such a jrpg mood. (Note that I am not complaining <3)



• ORIYA AS FIRST MATE YESSS I’m so excited! She’s coming back to be with the party!!! It’s like they heard my wishes from like five years into the future.
  
  As for the rest of the crew—I love the party with all my heart and soul, but I would never, ever want to be interviewed by them. That raised my stress levels just listening to it. I do think they made the right choices as to who to hire for the airship, though, and I’m looking forward to (potentially) seeing more of those particular NPCs.



• I was surprised that there was no comment (not even a joke!) when Howard names Murder in the Sky Cities as a book he likes, since, y’know, that’s pretty much just a description of what happened to Lucius’ family…