Cephiro

So, as a consequence of finding out I can actually appreciate Clef/Umi when it's part of a threesome including Ascot, another strange AU seems to be taking shape…

Vaguely Merlin-esque AU: Umi gets lost in a magic forest that no one ever comes out of. Said magic forest is the result of an epic falling out between an esteemed wizard and his apprentice quite some time ago. Or so claims that talking tree. Course, that tree also told her not to trust the little boy with the beasts, and he turned out to be just fine. Really, what does a tree know, anyway?

That time sounds good to me, too. If I have to go out on Saturdays, it's usually just late mornings/early afternoons. And hey, that timing's perfect for drinking games! That might be a bit of a necessity for me when we get to certain parts of Season 2… *eye twitch*

Connected the dots on something a while back, and kept meaning to make another post, but for some reason or another, I kept putting it off. I'm honestly kicking myself for not catching it sooner.

It's the gems.

We've seen before that gems in Cephiro can have storage capability. They might very well be able to hold live creatures. But then, what if the gems had limits to what they could hold? Whether we're talking physical space limitations or data limitations, giant living creatures would probably be one of the most space consuming things to store.

In other words, that gem sash Ascot wears in both the first and second season ain't just bling, my friends. It's got a purpose other than winning him the Cephiro's Most Bejeweled designation.

This also alters one of my other theories (but it was an iffy theory anyway), my idea of what would happen to beasts not out if their Summoner dies. Since they're linked to the gems, as long as nothing happens to those, it should be possible to recover beasts from dead Summoners. Might require some magic hacking, though, cause come on, you wouldn't want to make it easy for anyone else to summon your beasties.

Have her claim to be an ambassador from another country or pose as somebody else's foreign servant, perhaps?

UPDATE: Via shady back-alley dealings, an agreement to trade cards has been reached. This is a momentous occasion that deserves commemorating, and if you have cake available, you should eat it now. Thank you.

Out of all the original manga characters (excluding the Magic Knight families), I think Lafarga is the one with the least developed character in just about any given version of Magic Knight Rayearth. Yes, we know less about him than we do about Alcyone. Not that there isn't a character there, mind you, just that you have to dig a lot deeper into less info to figure it out. Well, as it turns out, that's my specialty. The Ascot character-mining came naturally, Caldina was a good warm-up, so now I think I'm ready to tackle some of Lafarga's character.

You know what non-Rayearth scene Lafarga brings to mind for me?  In the Doctor Who episode "Doomsday," there's a character, Yvonne Hartman, who, despite getting turned into a Cyberman, still manages to override the programming and take some other Cyberman down with her. The last words we hear from her are, "I did my duty for queen and country." (You can see that bit here) Now, just to clarify, Yvonne Hartman herself doesn't remind of Lafarga, just that one scene, that repeated "I did my duty for queen and country" as if it was the only thing keeping her going.

I feel like Lafarga is the character who believed in what Cephiro was the most, and as such, is the one that probably felt the most shocked and betrayed when everything fell apart. He probably knew Zagato and Emeraude personally, but likely didn't know about their feelings like Clef or Lantis did. He was devoted to protecting the pillar, to the point that he would face Zagato head on, to the point that Hikaru's mentioning of the Princess momentarily frees him from Zagato's control. So, given that much, how do you think such a devotedly patriotic heart is going to handle the news that Emeraude chose to do this? How is Lafarga going to take the realization that by trying to save her, he was actually fighting against her? The pillar system, this country, it's probably most, if not all, he's known and believed in his entire life, unlike Caldina, who's been all sorts of places. Also, unlike Ascot, the system was working very well for Lafarga personally, so he had no reason to really question the foundations. You know, stuff like this is why I think Mid Knight Skies is what needs to be written more than any other epic MKR idea I have (and believe me, there are tons).

Moving on, what else do we know about Lafarga? Well, he seems to bear a bit of a grudge against Lantis, understandably enough. Given the whole patriotic part, he's not gonna think too well of someone who left their country knowing a crisis was imminent. And, of course, him and Caldina are a thing. Would've been nice to get some more development on that in any version. I can think of loads of scenes that could be cut from the anime to make room for a few good flashback sequences showing what happened instead of the two of them just telling us in that one scene. It's just a matter of deciding what should be cut first, really.

Anyone else with Lafarga thoughts to share?

Who's most likely to live in a room with a suspiciously murdery window?

My first thought was Caldina, but then I realized, no, Caldina might live in a place where somebody was actually murdered, but not a place that looks like it.
I'm gonna have to go with Clef. It keeps kids off his lawn and discourages door-to-door salespeople.

Who's most likely to show up late with Starbucks?

Also in favor of a rewatch, as I wasn't around the last time you guys tried. Don't have any suggestions for how it should go, only that we should definitely hold off until Mils and Down get reliable internet access again.