Antagonistic Appropriation

You go Joy!

It's good that Sunflower has at least a somewhat accurate idea about what is going on with Crimson. There is a path forward, even if it requires horrifying amounts of proper communication.
 
Don't be silly, it just has resting murder-you-and-desecrate-your-corpse face.
Stomach, too, probably.
If Crimson's curse was acting up now, when the subject wasn't at all similar to fairies or magic, then Sunflower could only guess at some sort of self-defense mechanism
Well, at least one of them has noticed and worked out some of the basics, even if by saying nothing she's also perpetuating it. Makes sense she'd want to be cautious, with how she sees things.
"As such, my sister, Gloom–" said the right maid.

"–and my sister, Doom–" continued the left.

"–shall be compensating for much of the material that you cannot possibly learn in time," Doom finished
I love them. They're perfect. Even if they're in the way of immediate conversational payoff of some sort between V and a Prism.
'Fearing that she might somehow make irreparable mistakes,' Joy plowed over me, 'when Crimson has already demonstrated that she will accept outright murder attempts. Truly, this is the tragedy of our age.'
It really is an indicator of interest, to be sure. And I appreciate that Joy has found ways to encourage V to admit her interest regardless of there being another goddess. I'm sure she'll resist, but backing down entirely would be sad.
 
I wonder if the information suppression curse also suppresses the spread of information about itself.

It's not a general information suppression curse like Sunflower theorizes, we already know from Crimson's point of view that it's a Fae geas for being able to see through one of their plots.

That was Crimson's logic, and she would stick to it. Because if she let her mind drift too much, thought too hard about what she'd seen, was now sensing, she might not be capable of doing anything at all. After all, Crimson was forbidden from spoiling that which was meant to be hidden from mortal eyes. The geas binding Crimson didn't care if those secrets were on Earth, Faerie, or the Shaded Realm; no matter the location, it apparently still applied.

Crimson could barely manage to dismiss her map. Moving, telling the other Rainbows that Violence was might be an avatar, was out of the question. She should've kept her damn mouth shut instead of revealing that fairy's game.

The greater information about what's been happening on Earth with background magic stuff does make me wonder if it's possible that the "third plane" that is supporting Magenta might just... be Earth, or at least part of its supernatural population.

"The whole Shaded Realm is supposed to either be a wholly artificial dimension," Thyme agreed, "or a displaced landmass that was once part of a larger world. And I think natives view the Curtain as protecting them from both sunlight, and outside threats. So, add a mark for 'ways we might be helping invaders wage a proxy war.'"

A continent that got displaced from Magic Earth at some point back in the past, and now some of the factions are trying to get it brought back? Along with the curse, whatever impetus there was for placing it in the first place.
 
Nice callout to colour theory. Magenta is a mix of two different colours and no single wavelength of light can produce it. Thus, it is not represented on the rainbow.
So uh, I don't think you meant color theory. That's the pseudoscientific (may or may not have some legitimate components, but any studies I know of have definitely been exceptionally flawed) set of color associations that led to stuff like this. :p


EDIT: Ah, found the version you meant. I apologize. Because of course the pseudoscientific version is what comes up on search results and drowns out the actual historical stuff (apparently now referred to as "traditional color theory," "color science," or "colorimetry" depending on which you meant) until I go specifically looking. Spectrophotometry is the relevant field I knew of. ><;

EDIT 2: Trying to use a perceived issue primarily as a vehicle to share an amusing meme does not work so well when there was not, in fact, an issue. Whoops.
 
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I wonder if the information suppression curse also suppresses the spread of information about itself.

My other thought is ... why were we ever expecting Joyful Devourer to be able to properly detect the curse...
(Snip)
The curse most certainly does suppress sharing info on itself.

After all it's hidden from the eyes of mortals and therefore must not be spoiled about.



As for detection... Sure Violet is worried about precise targeting because similar elements can be in place elsewhere and Joy isn't very good at isolating both the element she is devouring to specifically a singular object it's trying to affect...

But. How many Faerie geasa do you expect to have in the Shadowed Realm???
 
My other thought is ... why were we ever expecting Joyful Devourer to be able to properly detect the curse when VV worries about things like "if she tries to eat magic swords, she might mistakenly include important structural elements and architectural enchantments"? Perception and analysis is explicitly a weak point of Joy
To be fair, she does have a great many eyes to use for peering at problems!

You go Joy!

It's good that Sunflower has at least a somewhat accurate idea about what is going on with Crimson. There is a path forward, even if it requires horrifying amounts of proper communication.
It's a good thing that everyone involved is an adult at this point and therefore definitely know what they're doing!

It really is an indicator of interest, to be sure. And I appreciate that Joy has found ways to encourage V to admit her interest regardless of there being another goddess. I'm sure she'll resist, but backing down entirely would be sad.
Joy has had almost two decades to learn how to work around her headmate's hangups as they develop. Joy still isn't the greatest at it, but she does her best!

As for detection... Sure Violet is worried about precise targeting because similar elements can be in place elsewhere and Joy isn't very good at isolating both the element she is devouring to specifically a singular object it's trying to affect...

But. How many Faerie geasa do you expect to have in the Shadowed Realm???
There are, however, an awful lot of souls, and those are complicated.

Oh yeah, Crimson's still hella into it. The gears in her head only ground for a bit before reaching that conclusion.
Questioning her life choices indeed, but still Would.
A good sign for her future love life, considering how Crimson reacts to it! :V
Crimson: "God I love a woman who will literally just kill me"
Almost every other Rainbow: "Look, we get that she's hot, but she's spent the last few months literally trying to kill us. Crimson, why?"

Crimson: "At what point did I seem like a sensible and well-adjusted individual?"
 
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So uh, I don't think you meant color theory. That's the pseudoscientific (may or may not have some legitimate components, but any studies I know of have definitely been exceptionally flawed) set of color associations that led to stuff like this. :p


EDIT: Ah, found the version you meant. I apologize. Because of course the pseudoscientific version is what comes up on search results and drowns out the actual historical stuff (apparently now referred to as "traditional color theory," "color science," or "colorimetry" depending on which you meant) until I go specifically looking. Spectrophotometry is the relevant field I knew of. ><;

EDIT 2: Trying to use a perceived issue primarily as a vehicle to share an amusing meme does not work so well when there was not, in fact, an issue. Whoops.
Ah, one of SV's favourite Tumblr moments.

The curse most certainly does suppress sharing info on itself.

After all it's hidden from the eyes of mortals and therefore must not be spoiled about.
Because it's a geas, it only restricts Crimson from talking about it though. If Sunflower were to discover the whole thing, it won't directly affect her (although it's conceivable that it might try and get Crimson to intercede).
 
It probably won't be a thing and would disrupt the story if it was a thing and was given focus, but I find it entertaining to imagine that there's one noble in the capital with more than one brain cell bouncing around like a computer screensaver* who'll open the paper one day soon and go "Huh, that soldier who was too competent to die in training just came back with the empire's most formidable rebels and is making a claim for the throne. … Oh hell, that soldier who was too competent to die in training just came back with the empire's most formidable rebels and is making a claim for the throne."

Cue Gray's confusion as the first thing he has to deal with upon securing the in-city lodgings is a preemptive declaration of surrender to Violence, seemingly due to her act of showing up.

*realistically, either little enough pride to be ignored or a sufficient ability to overwhelm that pride when called for.
 
Anyway, I'm in full support of the Polyamorous Agenda that a number of the Prisms seem to be participating in! Sunflower and Thyme are definitely down for it, Crimson seems to be at least ambivalent, Topaz when she forgets to be in the closet isn't *opposed* to Sunflowers words, this is all good! Dunno Aquamarine and Azure, nor VV, but Azure at least seems to instinctively follow VVs orders when she's commanding enough so lmao.
 
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"She flipped from the p-perfect soldier t-to glaring all of us," Azure agreed quietly.
*glaring at
Admittedly, Sunflower suspected that there might actually be magic back on Earth after all; a cross-dimensional relationship might not be an inherently doomed venture. There were plenty of little hints, ranging from all four times where 'bioluminescent microorganisms' infested and devoured offshore oil spills, to the wealthy families with members who looked suspiciously identical to their 'ancestors,' to the titanic stone throne explorers found buried in arctic ice.
It's pretty cool that while Crimson knows about magic back on Earth thanks to literally stumbling into a fairy plot, Sunflower just fucking Figured It Out. Definitely living up to her moniker of Studious Sunflower.
She never said anything of substance about them, yet such an omission might as well have been a blaring klaxon that not all was well in the nation of Dunemark.
The nation of what now? Nice to have explicit confirmation that they're definitely not from our Earth.
If Sunflower's guess was right, and there's truly was some grand enchantment protecting magic from public knowledge, Sunflower would find that spell's anchor and fire it into the Sun.
A-fucking-men. It's really cool how much the Prisms palpably care about each other.
It's not a general information suppression curse like Sunflower theorizes, we already know from Crimson's point of view that it's a Fae geas for being able to see through one of their plots.
I think it should be pointed out that there's no reason to assume those are mutually exclusive possibilities. And if there's not a grand information-suppressing curse then the points Sunflower raised about "how the fuck would you maintain a Masquerade in the Information Age without something like that" would still be entirely unaddressed. And note that the cite you used specifically used the wording "She should've kept her damn mouth shut instead of revealing that fairy's game" - meaning, it wasn't just seeing it happen or figuring it out herself that got her cursed, it was specifically trying to share information about it.

Crimson might be assuming herself that what happened was the fairy manually cursing her for that, but given the points Sunflower raised it seems more plausible to me that there is in fact such a curse in general, and trying to blow up a fairy's spot is just the specifics of how Crimson got it triggered on herself.
 
Assuming it is a fary curse, who knows what would happen if Sunflower let Crimson know that her inability to act gave away information she shouldn't have, so Sunflower is probably making the best choice for Crimson's safety for the wrong reasons.
 
Okay, kind of a crack theory but like hear me out. We know that the geas/veil of secrecy has enough magical potency to fool an actual goddess into thinking that it itself is Divine.
And Azure's Ghost has extremely similar characteristics to a Divine being, even if it lacks the potency to truly be such.

Well, what if they fused to make an actual goddess? like Azure already has a connection to secrecy and deception due to her abilities of illusion, and the veil is literaly just that, and her hiding a lot about herself.
Like what if that combination was enough to touch upon divinity.

Okay, rant/sleep deprived reasoning over. But Thanks for the chapter author, its always a joy to see this story update.
 
We know that the geas/veil of secrecy has enough magical potency to fool an actual goddess into thinking that it itself is Divine.
'There is something weird about her soul,' Joy admitted. 'I didn't think it was another goddess, but I can't say it's not, either. If I can fold myself so neatly, why can't someone else?'
We know that gods are good enough at hiding that Joy can't say for sure that any weird thing isn't one.
 
Hrrrm…
A part of me can't help but think if Joy finishes her physical form properly she might just manifest into an alternate Violet and then she opens her mouth to reveal that yep, she me very much one of the Prisms, for all that she is also a terrifying eldritch? Goddess.
 
And note that the cite you used specifically used the wording "She should've kept her damn mouth shut instead of revealing that fairy's game" - meaning, it wasn't just seeing it happen or figuring it out herself that got her cursed, it was specifically trying to share information about it.
True, but my read is that Crimson succeeded in sharing information about it. She did reveal the fairy's game, and wasn't forced to keep quiet about it until afterwards.
 
Okay, kind of a crack theory but like hear me out. We know that the geas/veil of secrecy has enough magical potency to fool an actual goddess into thinking that it itself is Divine.
No it doesn't. It's noticeable, and weird, and noticeably weird, but nothing about it actually indicates it's Divine. There isn't even any indication it's unusually powerful.
'There is something weird about her soul,' Joy admitted. 'I didn't think it was another goddess, but I can't say it's not, either. If I can fold myself so neatly, why can't someone else?'
There were some leading questions, and then a mental spiral misinterpreting "signs that Crimson is an Avatar", and then because the wierd soul thing meant they couldn't positively discount Crimson being an Avatar with a Goddess who is just really really good at hiding they ran with it.
 
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The first are those who choose a mortal host that has caught their interest for whatever reason. These are, by far, the most common kind. They are closer to our world and have a far easier time viewing it.
I do hope we see some of these later: maybe they're not as powerful as Joy is, but that just means it'd be more fun to see them interact. Though maybe Midnight is actually one of these in truth, and Joy + Azure just assume she isn't because they don't grok the power gap between born gods and normal ones?

It'd be a cool way for Crimson to break her geas, especially if it ends up convincing VV and Joy that she was always an avatar. More miscommunications on the pile. Plus, can you imagine VV's inevitable reaction if she later realised that Crimson's first impulse, as a relatively powerless mortal hearing about how courting Avatars was a Bad Idea, was to Engage Flirt Hyperdrive?
 
the nation of Dunemark.

Denmark? That doesn't look like an accidental typo, though. So now I'm worried about sandworms and runic mages, thanks for that.

A continent that got displaced from Magic Earth at some point back in the past, and now some of the factions are trying to get it brought back? Along with the curse, whatever impetus there was for placing it in the first place.

Wait. Are you telling me that the Umbral Empire is what's left of Atlantis? Because...if so, that's kind of awesome. And sad, because Atlantis is supposed to be a lost great civilization and not an evil one, but isolation does strange things to societies that can't use magic, so add in literal dark magic and I can see how something like this would come about.

Would be weird for this to suddenly take a turn into urban fantasy, though. Not unpleasant, but it's a hell of a genre shift even if all the magical girl stuff stays the same.
 
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