So, Calliope is taking notes . . . does that mean that she can or intends to make modifications to the DAS? Well we knew Dolly was going to have complaints!
Hmm, Lynn seems somewhat less than thrilled. Apparently the novelty of not being in a life threatening situation that sucks has worn off.
"Thank you for the summary, now the expanded report, please" LOL
Interesting configuration, and imagining of the regeneration apparatus. It looks cool!
I can understand Lynn's exasperation here. She hasn't had time to process the ordeal herself, let alone trying to discuss it right now. She needs to be able to unwind!
as a EMT , we had required counseling after a major (fatal) incident ,, and every time we were like Lynn,, an every time the therapist wood be like ,, so tell me bout your mother, ore, your dad spanked you, how did that make you feel.. nothing bout the incident. after one suicide we got a new therapist , an she turned it all around...
I definitely agree that with any trauma situation not involving family members, being asked, "tell me about your mother" will probably never going to go over well, and will probably not be helpful. This line of questioning was why it was a quarter of a century between my first voluntary therapy session and my next one. Fortunately, I'm not an EMT, and any PTSD from stuff that happened this life and outside of dreams has been pretty minor.
Admittedly, trying to get PTSD treatment from dreams that felt like a past life... still haven't managed to find a therapist willing to touch that one. It doesn't *matter* if past lives are real or not; if I had a disturbing lucid dream that felt like that, I can't describe the dream properly without saying that! And it doesn't mean I need to believe in reincarnation to have had a dream that felt like that! Also, why the frell do psychologists seem to think that people raised as Hindu believing in reincarnation is fine, but people raised as Christians? OMG, must be crazy!
I imagine it's because Hinduism incorporates the concept of reincarnation, and Christianity doesn't, and categorizing religious beliefs is like navigating a minefield. :D
Do I sense a little IRL experience there? (Dental abscesses, for example?)
And, yes, I believe Calliope would be quite interested to hear *all* the juicy details about the benefits of tactile sensitivity, especially during your visit to the Wastelands, Dolly...
Pity that Dolly can't REMEMBER all of it, Sheela. She was so drunk she was unsure of what all happened [see Owwie from 25 March 2013]. So I have a feeling her account of that evening would be... disjointed at best. :-D
On a sidenote, what nice and bright panels .. seems like Calliope has been turning the lights up - Which is nice, some of her old renders were .. kinda dark.
I agree that the outfit does look good on Lynn, Sheela. Did she SEE that outfit though? I'm not sure if she did (can't search on the phone for it).
Instead, I'm wondering if the Specialist sent her a gift. Since Rose already has Kyle locked in as her agent, maybe she wants the set? One way of ensuring they could spend time together. :-D
Well, *of course* we notice... Doesn't mean it's bad, though :-)
(If a Roman slave can wear the same model of dress as a Trojan bureaucrat, then surely a Trojan teenager can share the design with a Shinedo cyber-warrior's doll/avatar ;-) )
I have the feeling that the main reason Calli made that body for Dolly is she is TERRIFIED thinking that when Dolly hits 100 she has to basically commit suicide.
She made the body for Dolly to make her as close to human as she possibly be, so when the 100th year rolls around the Taylor's can say, "Uhhhh no, she's HUMAN. NOT An Android.
And Lynn more than likely has one of those therapists that insists that Lynn HAS to have repressed feelings of anger and a desire for vengeance. BTDTGTTS
Therapists like that are more toxic to a person's mental well being than the original issue.
And Terri? I hope you are feeling better and your health problems are being taken care of.
Maybe she does not want Dolly to be a Guardian anymore, and retire as a "human", so she can get out of all that danger, become Calliope's second mum and settle down with a nice mercenary .. erh .. man.
Research shows that a therapeutic intervention immediately after an event is counterproductive for most people. The one possible exception is for those who work in the emergency services.
Back when I worked on an ambulance, there were times where immediate psych help was beneficial, such as when a friend or co-worker was injured or died.
For dealing with emotional issues from working scenes and calls however, if we saw the psychnannies, we usually told them to get stuffed until we had a chance to really process it for ourselves, THEN we would seek them out.
Some of the people I worked with though refused to seek them out and those kinda turned out less than optimal.
I remember hearing about a trial. Some psychologists suggested offering support for those in the emergency services after a disaster may help. The international agency they made the suggestion to, I think that it was WHO but I could be wrong, tried offering counselling for civilians after a disaster. Those in the control group (ie no immediate counselling) performed so much better that the trial was stopped and it became an International recommendation that no counselling be offered immediately after a disaster.
The psychologists who proposed argued that the problem wasn't the policy they advocated testing but the fact that it was offered to civilians rather than the emergency services. People who work in the emergency services have training and procedures[1] in their normal work which means that such an intervention is more likely to have a positive effect.
Furthermore, it is the experience, in different incidents, that offering counselling to civilians in the immediate aftermath is more likely to be counterproductive.
"...the non-responsive D.A.S. is one of several factors supporting my statement that this body is completely unsuitable for a role as a guardian."
Completely unsuitable? One of many factors? Isn't that exaggerating, just a little?
Considering that Dolly went up against Kali and lived says a lot, both about Dolly's skill and experience and the body she has. It's not like she became unable to fight after receiving a blow or two.
Dolly, herself, admits that the improved reaction time and tactile sensitivity were tactical assets. That should offset some of the negatives.
The way Dolly said that implies that no amount of adjustments could make the body suitable for a guardian role, which I don't buy. The word "many" implies a lot - as in, far more than a few. She makes it sound like there are dozens of major negatives.
Instead, I think it would have been fairer (and more tactful towards Calli's feelings) for Dolly to state it something like:
"However, the non-responsive D.A.S. and a few other factors makes this body - in it's current form - unsuitable for a role as a guardian."
The body was Calli's gift to her, after all. And, aside from adjustments, Dolly is pretty much stuck with it.
I have a feeling that Dolly is letting her feelings colour her analysis more than she realizes, xpacetrue. Dolly just went 10 rounds with Kali and didn't win, so she isn't happy!
Kali kicked Dolly in the knee, which crippled her. Worse yet, without the DAS override she was unable to function at any level. The only reason she (and her charges) aren't all dead is Kali didn't WANT her dead! That and some serendipitous luck are the reason Lynn, Acantha, her (and Nova Roma itself) aren't a smoldering pile of carbon.
Then embarrassingly enough Dolly had to be assisted out by the person she came to rescue! Not her finest day as a guardian!
So while I actually agree with you, Dolly is looking too much at the negatives, I can understand how she could arrive at her conclusion.
Yes, it seems to be quite an exaggeration on Dolly's part, owing to unexpected body performance. Simply put, she is not used to this body, that caused her some trouble, and she is self conscious about it, and she is irritated about that. Dolly is acting more human here than she realizes.
Had she had the time in this body to have been more accustomed to it, the outcome with Kali might have been different, and had it been Dolly who had delivered the disabling kick, Dolly might very well be singing praises instead.
Once Dolly has some time, I think she will realize that Calli has given her a great gift.
From what I understand, megados, once Kali got into melee range Dolly's chance of defeating her fell to near zero. The way the situation unfolded favored Kali heavily because of her combat speciality (melee) and sturdier combat body. If Dolly had been at range (more Dolly's speciality) things could have turned out differently I believe.
You could well be right; there are a couple of things I'm not sure of. The main one is whether Kali had a combat frame. I was under the (perhaps mistaken) impression that the Cassians have enhanced and modified standard frames for greater speed and agility. I can't think of where I get this from, though, or if it is right.
You are right about Kali's forte being melee. Dolly would have fared better if Kali wouldn't have gotten close. Considering she wasn't very accustomed to her body, and that Kali did have an edge, I thought Dolly did quite well. As bodies go, and if Dolly had more experience, I think it had a chance of turning out differently in this way also.
I'm only saying that Dolly should not just reject this body out of hand.
Well totally agree there megados. Dolly looks GOOD in her human body. And while it might have issues dealing with a Kali level threat, I think overall it will be superior to her old body once she practises with it.
Kali was holding WAY back during their fight. She could have ended it within a second if she was serious about disabling/killing Dolly from the get-go. The speed with which she took out Dolly's knee is an example of Kali's true speed and strength. I'm afraid that Dolly's new frame is NOT combat-oriented..
I don't think it was *that* much Kali was holding back: she wouldn't have been excited about the whole thing at all in that case. Plus, her inhibitor probably would have had some opinion on that...
OTOH I'd like to point out that while it is not clear whether Dolly might perhaps have done slightly better in her old body, I think it's pretty clear that she wouldn't have had much chance against Kali either way.
Kali had a pure combat frame of reinforced Durasteel and combat sub plating. Once Kali was in range it was all a matter of seconds before Kali simply smashed her way past Dollys guard. And when she kicked Dollys knee she shattered it it was literally torn apart.
This is a case of a single infantryman going up against a M1 Abrams with a BB gun and hoping to win.
Again, I feel like I'm a voice of one on this. I don't believe that Dolly lost the fight to Kali because on any inherent weaknesses of her new frame, although strictly speaking she was at a disadvantage.
Dolly lost that fight because she got distracted by the stabbing of Acantha, and she let her guard down. Kali recovered from the distraction quicker and ended the fight. Even Noctis was impressed with Dolly's perfomance.
Not if they are rotten. Then all you can do with them is recycling, i.e. turning them into biomass and landfill gas... Whereas throwing them at people could pass as upcycling, which is usually considered even better than recycling! ;-)
Stormwind13 wrote, "...Dolly looks GOOD in her human body."
To phrase it that way is misleading. Dolly is not literally human. She's an android, through and through.
Granted, her current body is virtually indistinguishable from a human... on the outside. However, it is easy to forget that most androids (at least in New Troy) have a synth-brain, lab-grown organs, artificial muscles and a whole lot of other human-like features. Many can even digest food.
Dolly's model 5 is not really all that different from a model 4E. (See the Tech page for the details.) Yes, there are differences. But it's safe to say that Dolly retains some of those traits and is, physically, easily more than a match for most humans.
As I recall... Wasn't it stated that she has an armored skeleton? There's just no way her skeleton is as fragile as calcium carbonate on a collagen framework as in human bones. And I would be very surprised if her lab-grown muscles aren't quite a bit stronger than human norm.
I'm saying that, while she was no match for Kali in a straight melee fight, she's no slouch, either.
sigpig wrote, "Kali was holding WAY back during their fight. She could have ended it within a second if she was serious..."
I think you do Dolly and Calli a great disservice to discount her so out of hand. Also, I'd love to hear solid evidence why Kali would hold way back during any fight, especially that one.
Kali fought with Dolly not merely out of duty and compelled obedience. That, too. But she knew very well that if anyone killed Decimous, it would spell doom for all of Nova Roma and beyond. She fought Dolly with all of her strength because she had no reason to show mercy or go easy on her. Kali was compelled through inhibitors and through obligations, moral and otherwise.
Acantha was Kali's end-game - her hope for Nova Roma's future. So when Dec mortally wounded her, she had other things on her mind - other motivations and a new option.
I believe the point in question is that while Kali was NOT holding back in her fight with Dolly, neither was she giving it all she had. As long as Dolly was occupied with her, she could not threaten Decimus and thus Kali's directives were satisfied. I'm sure Kali hoped the remaining girls could somehow disable Decimus which would leave Acantha to give orders until Decimus woke up, or at least let Decimus disable the girls, which would at least create a negotiable situation. That Decimus killed his sister and thus freed her restraints was the worst case scenario, but the one she wound up dealing with. At which point disabling Dolly became a prime concern. That she didn't try to kill her is a very telling point and deserves more notice.
Timotheus wrote, "I believe the point in question is that while Kali was NOT holding back in her fight with Dolly, neither was she giving it all she had."
I'll concede that Kali might have been able to end the fight more quickly by going straight for a killing blow. She may have been trying to avoid killing Dolly, knowing she was only there to retrieve Lynn and fulfill her duty, similar to herself.
"As long as Dolly was occupied with her, she could not threaten Decimus and thus Kali's directives were satisfied."
Maybe? However, combat is about probability rather than absolutes. I've heard things such as, "There's no defense for unpredictability." Even an untrained punk can get in a lucky shot.
Dragging out a fight is dangerous, particularly if you have the capability to end it quickly. Kali knew that if she lost her fight with Dolly, the situation could be dire for Nova Roma and/or Acantha as she wouldn't be able to protect them.
@Timotheus note that if it hadn't been for the passing techno fairy -- which Kali didn't now anything about -- nulling the Contingencies, it wouldn't really have mattered whether she left Dolly alive or not...
And I wouldn't exactly say that disabling Dolly became her primary concern. Her primary concern became taking revenge on Decimus, no matter the consequences; Dolly was only relevant in that she might have caused some delay, while Kali didn't want to be kept waiting a single second longer...
All in all, as far as Kali was concerned, the contingencies still existed, but as she was fighting Dolly, she was constrained against allowing Decimus to be harmed. She was giving Dolly a fair fight, neither slacking, nor motivated. It didn't seem as though she had any desire to kill Dolly. She herself commented that it had been a long time since she had seen her own blood, which indicated to me that Dolly was doing a fair job. When Acantha was stabbed, she wanted to waste no more more time with it, as now was her chance to end Decimus. At that point, she didn't care about the contingencies.
Concise, but not necessarily precise catt. Dolly can probably get more out of it than most. She wants Lynn to tell her exactly what is bothering her so she can fix it.
Terri, Your passion for perfection and attention to details (AKA, photo-realistic), and skill at achieving it are in a class by itself. The little folds and subtle shadows on Lynn's dress in panel four are the work of a master. I suspect that including details like those is NOT a small effort but they do make a huge difference. You even include a seam on the right side of her dress that emulates a wrap around kimono to compliment the Japanese style and pattern of the dress. We are so lucky to be able to enjoy your artistry.
Have you ever considered teaching? Surely there are students that would love to gain a tenth of your skills and would be willing to pay for it. Two or three students could make a significant addition to your income. Perhaps the publishers of your software might be interested in sponsoring you. Just a thought but you should be being rewarded much more for your gifts.
I hate to rain on the parade, but Terri didn't make that dress (neither she nor I have the skill to create new figures beyond very basic props); it's a commercially-available resource, so the creators of it are indeed getting compensated for their skills.
https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/shoot-10-sakura/93163
Terri's skill at USING the resources available to her, however, are another matter; I have access to the exact same clothing, figures, sets, and lights, and what I turn out is just plain shit, for the most part.
No, you're not raining on the parade. The parade was not about making the dress but on all the detailed and subtle touches that Terri added. The Renderosity product only came with potential - Terri brought it to life. Terri's attention to detail has been evident throughout all her artwork.
Are you trying to say that the folds and shadows that are on Lynn's dress appear automagically? I suppose magic happens but I seriously doubt it. They are different from the Renderosity models and more subtle.
On a slightly different note, I am curious: Why do you imsist on discounting and undermining my compliments to Terri? This isn't the first time.
I get the feeling that the counselor didn't have any kind of real life experience to compare with what Lynn went through. The flip side may be that the counselor had been through the trenches and Lynn was loosing her "I am unique as no one has ever suffered the way I have" illusion. This would mean that her mother (and Acantha) were right about her getting help.
I agree with TheSulker. I would pay to give my daughter the opportunity to learn from you Terri. A Skype styled delivery would enable you to teach people the world over. I don't know how well Youtube pays, but instructional videos showing you work your magic may make a good income.
Romfire wrote, "...I don't know how well Youtube pays, but instructional videos showing you work your magic may make a good income."
You must not have heard of the "Adpocalypse". YouTube ad revenues have plummeted. It drastically lowered ad rewards and have made many vids now ineligible to be monetized. This was triggered by being dropped by many big name advertisers, in response to a slanted article on WSJ. (The guy who wrote the piece was a major stockholder in media outlets threatened by YouTube and the Internet.)
Since this started, though, many of those big advertisers are back and YouTube gained a bunch of new sponsors. But the situation for many YouTubers is still bleak, many being forced to rely on Patreon for donations.
The move reminds me of how Google had already drastically reduced their website ad revenue a few years ago (which hurt a lot of webcomics and other free content).
Granted, YouTube is not a moneymaker for Google. Indeed, it sounds like it loses money for them as bandwidth costs exceeds profits. But there are allegations that decisions on what is or isn't monetizable is politically motivated.
You are depicting Patreon as a stopgap solution -- whereas I for my part consider it fundamentally much preferable over ad revenue, as a method of monetizing on intangible works. (Including indirect ad revenue in the form of YouTube payout...)
I hadn't considered youtube. I was thinking of personal one-one-one (or two or three). I suspect youtube could work for basic stuff but the skills that Terri exhibits are probably too subtle and individualized for passive videos. I would imagine it is similar to coaching where the coach monitors performance and offers individual feedback. I was thinking face to face but Skype could work also. Face to face or screen to screen might pay better as well as be more fulfilling. I trust other people have more and better ideas on how to monetize her talents.
Not only is Lynn channelling Professor Akaibara (and not looking half bad doing it), but also Calliope for once found something that is neither stiff nor trashy!
As for Dolly's outfit... Well, I'm sure it serves a medical purpose ;-)
Timotheus that is one of the most TERRIFYING thoughts!!! Rose pyschoanalyzing a teenager... The WARPING of the young mind! I'm not sure the universe would SURVIVE the results! :-D
Hmm, Lynn seems somewhat less than thrilled. Apparently the novelty of not being in a life threatening situation that sucks has worn off.
"Thank you for the summary, now the expanded report, please" LOL
Interesting configuration, and imagining of the regeneration apparatus. It looks cool!
Lynn : "UUUUUUHHHHGGGG!!"
Dolly : "... I see."
Admittedly, trying to get PTSD treatment from dreams that felt like a past life... still haven't managed to find a therapist willing to touch that one. It doesn't *matter* if past lives are real or not; if I had a disturbing lucid dream that felt like that, I can't describe the dream properly without saying that! And it doesn't mean I need to believe in reincarnation to have had a dream that felt like that! Also, why the frell do psychologists seem to think that people raised as Hindu believing in reincarnation is fine, but people raised as Christians? OMG, must be crazy!
And, yes, I believe Calliope would be quite interested to hear *all* the juicy details about the benefits of tactile sensitivity, especially during your visit to the Wastelands, Dolly...
Welcome back, Terri! Hope you're feeling refreshed.
*returnßto his work anocasional roar and Roma scream for help cut off as the door snaps shut*
On a sidenote, what nice and bright panels .. seems like Calliope has been turning the lights up - Which is nice, some of her old renders were .. kinda dark.
Which reminds me of this neat youtube tutorial on how to get Blender to render light on a broader dynamic range. I don't know if it's applicable to Daz, or if it has something like it already, but man what a difference!
Instead, I'm wondering if the Specialist sent her a gift. Since Rose already has Kyle locked in as her agent, maybe she wants the set? One way of ensuring they could spend time together. :-D
I TOLD Cent that the readers would FUCKING NOTICE...
(If a Roman slave can wear the same model of dress as a Trojan bureaucrat, then surely a Trojan teenager can share the design with a Shinedo cyber-warrior's doll/avatar ;-) )
...I guess Calliope should have told her before she left that Dolly now was 'fully' human as far as her body reactions go...
... *lol* Lynn... @alt text: indeed =P =D
...but Lynn, looking good there, did she steal/borrow Tokio Rose's dress??? =O
She made the body for Dolly to make her as close to human as she possibly be, so when the 100th year rolls around the Taylor's can say, "Uhhhh no, she's HUMAN. NOT An Android.
And Lynn more than likely has one of those therapists that insists that Lynn HAS to have repressed feelings of anger and a desire for vengeance. BTDTGTTS
Therapists like that are more toxic to a person's mental well being than the original issue.
And Terri? I hope you are feeling better and your health problems are being taken care of.
mercenary.. erh .. man.For dealing with emotional issues from working scenes and calls however, if we saw the psychnannies, we usually told them to get stuffed until we had a chance to really process it for ourselves, THEN we would seek them out.
Some of the people I worked with though refused to seek them out and those kinda turned out less than optimal.
I remember hearing about a trial. Some psychologists suggested offering support for those in the emergency services after a disaster may help. The international agency they made the suggestion to, I think that it was WHO but I could be wrong, tried offering counselling for civilians after a disaster. Those in the control group (ie no immediate counselling) performed so much better that the trial was stopped and it became an International recommendation that no counselling be offered immediately after a disaster.
The psychologists who proposed argued that the problem wasn't the policy they advocated testing but the fact that it was offered to civilians rather than the emergency services. People who work in the emergency services have training and procedures[1] in their normal work which means that such an intervention is more likely to have a positive effect.
Furthermore, it is the experience, in different incidents, that offering counselling to civilians in the immediate aftermath is more likely to be counterproductive.
[1] For example, debriefing is common.
www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/the-mind-in-crisis-to-debrief-or-not-to-debrief/2996966
{edit}This is also worth a read:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2964043/
Completely unsuitable? One of many factors? Isn't that exaggerating, just a little?
Considering that Dolly went up against Kali and lived says a lot, both about Dolly's skill and experience and the body she has. It's not like she became unable to fight after receiving a blow or two.
Dolly, herself, admits that the improved reaction time and tactile sensitivity were tactical assets. That should offset some of the negatives.
The way Dolly said that implies that no amount of adjustments could make the body suitable for a guardian role, which I don't buy. The word "many" implies a lot - as in, far more than a few. She makes it sound like there are dozens of major negatives.
Instead, I think it would have been fairer (and more tactful towards Calli's feelings) for Dolly to state it something like:
"However, the non-responsive D.A.S. and a few other factors makes this body - in it's current form - unsuitable for a role as a guardian."
The body was Calli's gift to her, after all. And, aside from adjustments, Dolly is pretty much stuck with it.
Kali kicked Dolly in the knee, which crippled her. Worse yet, without the DAS override she was unable to function at any level. The only reason she (and her charges) aren't all dead is Kali didn't WANT her dead! That and some serendipitous luck are the reason Lynn, Acantha, her (and Nova Roma itself) aren't a smoldering pile of carbon.
Then embarrassingly enough Dolly had to be assisted out by the person she came to rescue! Not her finest day as a guardian!
So while I actually agree with you, Dolly is looking too much at the negatives, I can understand how she could arrive at her conclusion.
Had she had the time in this body to have been more accustomed to it, the outcome with Kali might have been different, and had it been Dolly who had delivered the disabling kick, Dolly might very well be singing praises instead.
Once Dolly has some time, I think she will realize that Calli has given her a great gift.
You are right about Kali's forte being melee. Dolly would have fared better if Kali wouldn't have gotten close. Considering she wasn't very accustomed to her body, and that Kali did have an edge, I thought Dolly did quite well. As bodies go, and if Dolly had more experience, I think it had a chance of turning out differently in this way also.
I'm only saying that Dolly should not just reject this body out of hand.
OTOH I'd like to point out that while it is not clear whether Dolly might perhaps have done slightly better in her old body, I think it's pretty clear that she wouldn't have had much chance against Kali either way.
This is a case of a single infantryman going up against a M1 Abrams with a BB gun and hoping to win.
*That makes Dolly's performance all the more noteworthy.
Dolly lost that fight because she got distracted by the stabbing of Acantha, and she let her guard down. Kali recovered from the distraction quicker and ended the fight. Even Noctis was impressed with Dolly's perfomance.
(gets ready to start dodging tomatoes again)
To phrase it that way is misleading. Dolly is not literally human. She's an android, through and through.
Granted, her current body is virtually indistinguishable from a human... on the outside. However, it is easy to forget that most androids (at least in New Troy) have a synth-brain, lab-grown organs, artificial muscles and a whole lot of other human-like features. Many can even digest food.
Dolly's model 5 is not really all that different from a model 4E. (See the Tech page for the details.) Yes, there are differences. But it's safe to say that Dolly retains some of those traits and is, physically, easily more than a match for most humans.
As I recall... Wasn't it stated that she has an armored skeleton? There's just no way her skeleton is as fragile as calcium carbonate on a collagen framework as in human bones. And I would be very surprised if her lab-grown muscles aren't quite a bit stronger than human norm.
I'm saying that, while she was no match for Kali in a straight melee fight, she's no slouch, either.
sigpig wrote, "Kali was holding WAY back during their fight. She could have ended it within a second if she was serious..."
I think you do Dolly and Calli a great disservice to discount her so out of hand. Also, I'd love to hear solid evidence why Kali would hold way back during any fight, especially that one.
Kali fought with Dolly not merely out of duty and compelled obedience. That, too. But she knew very well that if anyone killed Decimous, it would spell doom for all of Nova Roma and beyond. She fought Dolly with all of her strength because she had no reason to show mercy or go easy on her. Kali was compelled through inhibitors and through obligations, moral and otherwise.
Acantha was Kali's end-game - her hope for Nova Roma's future. So when Dec mortally wounded her, she had other things on her mind - other motivations and a new option.
I'll concede that Kali might have been able to end the fight more quickly by going straight for a killing blow. She may have been trying to avoid killing Dolly, knowing she was only there to retrieve Lynn and fulfill her duty, similar to herself.
"As long as Dolly was occupied with her, she could not threaten Decimus and thus Kali's directives were satisfied."
Maybe? However, combat is about probability rather than absolutes. I've heard things such as, "There's no defense for unpredictability." Even an untrained punk can get in a lucky shot.
Dragging out a fight is dangerous, particularly if you have the capability to end it quickly. Kali knew that if she lost her fight with Dolly, the situation could be dire for Nova Roma and/or Acantha as she wouldn't be able to protect them.
And I wouldn't exactly say that disabling Dolly became her primary concern. Her primary concern became taking revenge on Decimus, no matter the consequences; Dolly was only relevant in that she might have caused some delay, while Kali didn't want to be kept waiting a single second longer...
That's how it seemed to me, anyway.
Have you ever considered teaching? Surely there are students that would love to gain a tenth of your skills and would be willing to pay for it. Two or three students could make a significant addition to your income. Perhaps the publishers of your software might be interested in sponsoring you. Just a thought but you should be being rewarded much more for your gifts.
https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/shoot-10-sakura/93163
Terri's skill at USING the resources available to her, however, are another matter; I have access to the exact same clothing, figures, sets, and lights, and what I turn out is just plain shit, for the most part.
PS - No comment on the teaching idea?
On a slightly different note, I am curious: Why do you imsist on discounting and undermining my compliments to Terri? This isn't the first time.
I agree with TheSulker. I would pay to give my daughter the opportunity to learn from you Terri. A Skype styled delivery would enable you to teach people the world over. I don't know how well Youtube pays, but instructional videos showing you work your magic may make a good income.
You must not have heard of the "Adpocalypse". YouTube ad revenues have plummeted. It drastically lowered ad rewards and have made many vids now ineligible to be monetized. This was triggered by being dropped by many big name advertisers, in response to a slanted article on WSJ. (The guy who wrote the piece was a major stockholder in media outlets threatened by YouTube and the Internet.)
Since this started, though, many of those big advertisers are back and YouTube gained a bunch of new sponsors. But the situation for many YouTubers is still bleak, many being forced to rely on Patreon for donations.
The move reminds me of how Google had already drastically reduced their website ad revenue a few years ago (which hurt a lot of webcomics and other free content).
Granted, YouTube is not a moneymaker for Google. Indeed, it sounds like it loses money for them as bandwidth costs exceeds profits. But there are allegations that decisions on what is or isn't monetizable is politically motivated.
Not only is Lynn channelling Professor Akaibara (and not looking half bad doing it), but also Calliope for once found something that is neither stiff nor trashy!
As for Dolly's outfit... Well, I'm sure it serves a medical purpose ;-)