Oh, Cool! I Like How You've Handled The Veil, And Your Comedy Never Fails! Poor James Though.

Oh, cool! I like how you've handled the veil, and your comedy never fails! Poor James though.

Could you draw a Night Crawler to go with Hook and Pan?

honestly i didn’t mean to make the nightcrawler so spooky but here we are🙈

whats that i hear? is it a whale? another ship? nope! its rafal rolling his eyes!

(aren’t i just so comedic) hope this satisfies!

Please read or skim the descriptions below the poll and approximate as best as you can before voting. (If you disagree with any of my character interpretations, feel free to comment.)

Hephaestus (or Kyma) - Can and will set their pride aside to help others. E.g., Hephaestus held back and did not stand up to Vulcan in order to save his fellow Evers and spare them from further punishment. He took the selfless way out, instead of going after personal satisfaction. Both he and Kyma care for others, and in doing so, save themselves, too. Yet, they also seem willing to sacrifice themselves. "All against Evil" mentality.

Hook (or Midas) - The "neutrals." These two get their own category, slightly outside of the Kyma to Rhian spectrum. Will save himself first if he has good reason to neglect others. Is willing to betray, lie, and cheat, yet cares for those specifically aligned with him. He cares for those on his side (sometimes, meaning only himself) and that excludes everyone else, the masses. Has an "us vs. them" or "us against the world" mentality.

Rise Rafal - Mostly "Good," or if not Good, honorable on some level, but cannot set his pride aside. Slightly narrower than the Hook category. Deserts and tortures everyone with almost no qualms. Yet does possess a conscience. Has a cynical mentality of: "I will save myself and hang everyone out to dry, to fend for themselves" or essentially, the classic: "Every man for himself." Assumes the worst of human nature, under normal circumstances—unless someone gives him reason to believe they will do Good. Also: "So long everyone. I only care about myself, and will do nothing for you." Plays defensive sometimes, but only for himself with few exceptions (like protecting Rhian). Overall: "Me and my personal gain against the world" mentality.

Fall Rafal - Inclusive of the above description. Plus: Will actively, preemptively hurt (or endanger) others, when necessary (could be "necessary" in his mind). Uses people, and sometimes, treats them as disposable. Escape Clause: If he's feeling particularly vindictive or sadistic, as events take a turn for the worst, the definition of "necessary" will widen to accommodate him. Salient addition of the: "I'm always right" mentality.

Fall Rhian (or Marialena) - Self-serving to a greater degree than Rafal is. Believes other people are Good, that humanity is fundamentally Good (or that it can further his cause), and leaves himself vulnerable... He will lie, cheat, and deceive to save his own skin. Plays dirty. Will actively, preemptively hurt. He cares for himself, and will harm and tear down others if it will benefit him. "Me with the world until the world hurts me" mentality.

Question if anyone's interested:

If anyone has access to a digital copy of Rise of the School for Good and Evil that they are able to copy and paste from, could you do me a favor and paste the complete text into an online text concordance analyzer?

I'm really just curious to know what the primary words used are or if it's possible to track the order and frequency of thematic words like "love" or "prophecy" throughout the different sections of the book. It would be like: Rise: At a Glance.

What do you think would have happened immediately after Rhian stabbed Rafal if Rhian had missed, or Rafal was able to somehow see it coming and move out of the way? How would have both brothers reacted?

I think both brothers were too far gone to back down by that point, and I doubt that either could or would come to their senses. Rafal was still prideful and unwilling to compromise on what he wanted or let go of potential power, and Rhian was already off into the deep end of practically being possessed by the rot and the Evil within him, meaning, short of a miracle, he probably would've been unswayable.

So, perhaps, if anything deviated from canon, the fratricide scene could've been drawn out into a longer seemingly inevitable, final struggle. Thus, whoever would've won would've won—unless they arrived at a stalemate, but I don't believe they were evenly matched by Fall's climax. Plus, if we reference August Sader's words to Agatha about how villains are often the people closest to the protagonist, I have a theory that Rhian literally became Rafal's fairy tale nemesis, even if it was never directly stated in the text, since we've seen a progression of Rafal gaining a limp, losing his flight, and becoming weaker in Fall while Rhian grew into his Evil and power (the blue dragonfire) and became stronger, suggesting that the same outcome could've occurred, even if it could have been delayed.

Idea: Every year, Rafal hosts a Q&A for his students that routinely turns rather bleak, and every year, he gets the pleasure of answering one of the FAQs his students always seem to ask in some capacity.

The reason why the little schemers always ask this all-important question all boils down to them wondering: how bad could their School Master be? It's their way of testing the boundaries and the School's disciplinary measures, covertly, but Rafal knows why they ask and he delivers wonderfully every time. It's his way of identifying the potential rule breakers of that year.

To elaborate, the Never students want to test just how far he'd go in punishing them, but they do not want to incriminate themselves or draw unnecessary attention. They want to know exactly how much trouble they would be in in their positions, so they present their question as a hypothetical about Rhian and approximate Rafal's answer to be worse as it could potentially apply to them.

Thus, the question one brave soul asks, after much communal stress over its wording, is this:

"School Master, what would you do if the Good School Master did something unforgivable?"

Rafal: [thinks for a moment.]

[The students are rapt and lean in to listen. Even Humburg is curious as to what the response could be.]

Rafal: [Not one of his facial muscles twitches.] Sell him to Bluebeard. Next question.

[Without fail, his answer always shocks the Nevers. His own brother! That's "how bad," and they definitely have their answer now.]

And, as per their annual tradition, Rafal tells Rhian about The Question and laughs while Rhian does not.

Are you a woeful insomniac or can you sleep through a typhoon?

I'm probably closer to "can sleep through a typhoon" as far as I can tell. And I've been told that I've apparently slept through barking and people talking on the phone. Although lately, I've been going to bed at around 4am (close to 6 at the latest) and waking up around 12 since I don't have classes to wake up for during the summer. I doubt this pattern counts as insomnia though, does it? That allegedly "off" schedule has been working perfectly well for me regardless. It's only others in my life who have complaints about my not conforming to the societal standard. So, luckily, I've never been an insomniac, but sometimes, others force me to go to bed when I'm not tired. So perhaps a more precise question is whether I've ever exhibited insomniac traits, like having a wakeful brain at the wrong time of day? Then again, I'm usually not good at recognizing when I'm tired anyway since I rarely sense it until my eyes start to water involuntarily.