Page 133: "Will you permit it?"

[Arent]

What the hell are all of you guys talking about? Flirts or romantic relationships are a staple part of many stories. & Arioch has made it abundantly clear that he won't cross certain lines.

[Turrosh Mak]

Alex: "And if you can get safely aboard, what then?"
Talon: "You wished to see something interesting, Enzin. I think maybe now you will see it!"
Alex: "Don't feel like you have to impress me!"

I don't get what is confusing people about this interchange.

For nonnative speakers it's easy to confuse modal verb "have to" with present perfect auxiliary verb "have". And understand the last phrase as "You don't feel like you have impressed me".
At least two more Russian speaking readers has been confused by this phrase.

Would changing the line to read "Don't feel like you NEED to impress me!" have been clearer for a non-english speaker?

[Mr.Tucker]

Yeah, why am I not surprised by the direction these discussions are going. Don't much care about romance (remember, in real life it just doesn't happen in such circumstances) but in this case the probing is meant to shed some light on the telepathic character of humans (or lack thereoff).Wonder how he would react if he knew she had kids...
The dreadfull thing is, I believe Tempest will bite the dust soon, along with her commander. Doesn't seem like the type to run. Which is bad news for the Loroi, and us since we won't be able to explore their worlds very well before they are brought to the brink...

[novius]

I wonder why the sudden hate, though. Surely Arioch would do better than have the story devolve into p0rn without plot as some people may seem to think it would.

If it's depicted tastefully, within its self-imposed limits of PG-13 and actual sort-of important for the plot (as in, giving Alex a continued reason to root for the Loroi and for "the group" to make the fight a bit more personal, for example), I'd say go for it.

Could very much be that Loroi and human can communicate telepathically, but only if they're not just physically, but emotionally connected, for example.

That would be solely in The Creator's purview. And it's up to him to decide.

[Zarya]

Hear, hear - 100% agree

[Arent]

Could very much be that Loroi and human can communicate telepathically, but only if they're not just physically, but emotionally connected, for example.

It can be safely assumed that something will happen. Otherwise the build up so far wouldn't have made sense.

Apart from that, I would really like to see the character sheet of Alex. In Beryls case there are some blacked-out items.

[SVlad]

Would changing the line to read "Don't feel like you NEED to impress me!" have been clearer for a non-english speaker?

Yes. Actually, after first WTF I've carefully reread the sentence and translated it correctly word by word, but wasn't quite sure in result.

[Arioch]

Would changing the line to read "Don't feel like you NEED to impress me!" have been clearer for a non-english speaker?

Yes. Actually, after first WTF I've carefully reread the sentence and translated it correctly word by word, but wasn't quite sure in result.

By the way, just wondering ... in your translation, why did you change the names of the Loroi and Umiak to "Lorai" and "Yumiak" (Лорай и Юмиак) instead of just using a straight transliteration (Лорой и Умиaк)?

[Voitan]

[Voitan]

my money is on Alex being able to sense, somehow, that Beryl is trying to reach him. I don't think he'll be able to respond in any telepathic way, but maybe they'll be able to change the "shapes" that he is seeing?
Part of me would love if Novius' suggestion did come about though...

It's possible active consent from Alex might change things too.

[novius]

It's possible active consent from Alex might change things too.

Or, more than that. That the human lotai reacts on circumstances and is only raised on mental contact with hostile intent. Like a reflex to protect the own mind.

Come to think of this, the buildup has been for longer than people might surmise.

Beryl woudn't have posed that question if she hadn't walked in on Alex and Talon. She admitted herself that seeing humans having much fewer compunctions about skin-to-skin contact emboldened her.

And that would have never happened if that scene never happened - Talon could have easily been a bit more standoffish to blow off his outstretched hand or for Alex to not to feel comfortable enough to fall into purely human habits around Loroi.

And Beryl herself tumbling into his lap put her in a better position (no pun intended) to pose such a question which is undoubtedly a rather personal matter to Loroi, too.

[novius]

By the way, just wondering ... in your translation, why did you change the names of the Loroi and Umiak to "Lorai" and "Yumiak" (Лорай и Юмиак) instead of just using a straight transliteration (Лорой и Умиaк)?

Not speaking russian (or any language using cyrillic letters), but I heard enough of it to know that this fits better into the tone and cadence of the language than the exact transliteration. Especially Юмиак with the "y-u" diphtong at the start of the word rather than the hard "u".

It's not that unusual that names aren't kept 100% the same phonetically across different languages. It happens to work around specific vowels and consonants which are rather uncommon and often enough possibly difficult to sound out for speakers of the target language.

[icekatze]

hi hi

My prediction is that Alex will slowly start to explore Loroi telepathy more deeply throughout the comic, so while no reaction is certainly possible, I'm betting that we'll learn something new. But maybe not too much.

[novius]

My prediction is that Alex will slowly start to explore Loroi telepathy more deeply throughout the comic, so while no reaction is certainly possible, I'm betting that we'll learn something new. But maybe not too much.

Of course that would require more 'samples' to have a bigger data set. Talon is and Beryl seems already a given, but I cannot imagine him putting his hands on Fireblade anytime soon - she made her feelings about it quite clear

[SVlad]

By the way, just wondering ... in your translation, why did you change the names of the Loroi and Umiak to "Lorai" and "Yumiak" (Лорай и Юмиак) instead of just using a straight transliteration (Лорой и Умиaк)?

Short answer: just my spelling error.
Long answer: Generally, English words are not spelled directly letter by letter, there are lots of words with completely different spelling. So, I tried to find a way to get spelling for nondictionary words and found brand new (new at that moment several years ago) spell feature in google translate. It spelled Loroi as something like лорай or лорэи (and umiak like юмиак). "o" can be spelled as "а" in some cases, so it didn't looked like error for me. Лорай and Юмиак sounds good, so I take this variant. Now google spells them more like "лорой" and "умиак" - they improved their algorithms.
PS
When I heard your interview, I decided to fix it sometime in the future. But it's rather time consuming to change about hundred of entries in GIMP files, reexport and reupload them, so it's still a plan.

Not speaking russian (or any language using cyrillic letters), but I heard enough of it to know that this fits better into the tone and cadence of the language than the exact transliteration. Especially Юмиак with the "y-u" diphtong at the start of the word rather than the hard "u".

Actually, the both word Ло́рай and Ло́рой exists in Russian (with different stress). Лорай is existing surname and Лорой is instrumental case of name Лора.

PPS
Loroi trade language seems less alien for me, than actual English. Was the Trading language created under the influence of Russian?

[Dahak]

Who wouldn't want some skin-to-skin with sexy and curious blue skinned alien?
I would be all kirk with her.

Kirk probably wouldn't. Those of his relationships that aren't monogamous long term relationships with clever usually blond women are almost always invoilving him being coerced.

Kirk would be professional. After all if she does read his mind she'll know the Enterprise comes first.

The casual sex officer is Riker. Or possibly Trip "I got pregnant by holding hands" Tucker.

[Michael]

"Skin to skin contact" Oh mmmyyyy~


But seriously, I expect the whole idea that someone like Jardin existing must be so alien to her that even the thought of dying is kinda taking a sideline to not being able to sense *anything* from him

[Arioch]

Loroi trade language seems less alien for me, than actual English. Was the Trading language created under the influence of Russian?

There was some Russian influence, particularly in the sounds of the phonemes.

[orion1836]

Who wouldn't want some skin-to-skin with sexy and curious blue skinned alien?
I would be all kirk with her.

Kirk would be professional.

Uh-huh... professional.

[Corpsman_of_Krieg]

Arioch, I may not be picking up on it as much as I ought to, but is there some degree of pensiveness, or even a little trepidation in Beryl’s question to Jardin? I have to believe that, despite the fact that he is a literal alien of almost unknowable qualities beyond what she can directly observe, which she obviously does with great attention to detail, that so far her reaction, and for that matter Tempo’s reaction as well, to the entire scenario they are in with this virtual unknown has lent credence to my wondering if his physical appearance has put them overly at-ease, given how sinilar he looks to them.

I am really enjoying the pacing and flow so far; zero critiques or complaints, yet my curiosity remains piqued!