She Who Became the Sun illustrations by Przemysław "Trust" Truściński
Okay I did some digging around and managed to find an ebook version of the illustrated Polish edition (Ta, która stała się słońcem) of She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan!! I got my copy from swiatksiazki.pl with the help of automatic translation.
Here are the illustrations I thought would be the most interesting to show here.
Chapters 1–4, Zhu at the monastery
Chapter 7, Ouyang
Chapter 10 - Ouyang and Esen
Chapter 16 - Zhu and Ma’s wedding
Chapter 19 - Zhu and Ma figuring out the business of rain and clouds
Had to censor this one OTL
Chapter 22 - Esen and Ouyang
Chapter 23, Zhu at the end of the book
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My thoughts on how the Milgram mv machine works based on the evidence we have:
(I know there’s been discussion about where exactly the interrogations take place, but wherever they are,) the prisoners are made to sit in a specific chair near the wall that houses the machine.
It’s ordinarily hidden, but the wall panels shift aside to reveal it when the mechanical sounds play in the dramas. As well as the walls moving, the chair transforms to restrain the prisoner and attach whatever it takes to access their brain. The fact that none of the more frightened prisoners try to run or break it makes it seem like they physically cannot. This is why Fuuta sounds so panicked, and why Amane is suddenly helpless in front of Es in their T1 vds.
(My mind conjures very classic sci-fi mad scientist machines with wires, pipes, lights, nodes, needles, etc, but I’d love to hear how other people visualize it.)
In some vds (maybe all? I’d need to check,) you can hear Es take some steps right before their iconic line -- it would make sense that for safety reasons, the power mechanism is placed across the room. Once again it could be anything, but the sound effect makes me think of one of those giant wall-mounted levers you have to pull down.
The voice dramas don’t really provide the type of crime details that an actual interrogation would reveal, and it’s odd that they’re placed before the extraction rather than after Es gets to see the new details. This leads me to believe the machine functions with priming. All Es needs to do is get them talking about their murder, so it’s on their mind.
The video produced is much like a (non-lucid) dream. Even if the prisoners figure out that this is how it works, they can’t control it just by thinking really hard about something else. The murders produce the strongest emotional affect, and that’s what it picks up on. If someone else used the machine, it would default to whatever gave them the strongest emotional reaction in the ~15 minutes beforehand, hence why Es’ video focuses on their daunting task ahead. (The Undercover theory is still a bit loose, though, given the private shots that Es wouldn't have known about). It’s why the videos are usually closely linked to the vd topics/beats. I also like to think that the reason their prisoner colors appear so much is because they’re looking at those colors on their uniform 24/7.
The bell rings to inform Es that it’s the optimal time to use the machine -- the prisoner has been thinking about things for long enough that the video will be about their crime, and if the conversation lasts much longer they’ll start thinking of other things. It’s at a different time for each prisoner because it’s based on the specific conversation. I guess Jackalope is listening in to the interrogation, timing it perfectly. (The only one that kind of messes with this theory is Yonah, because they just keep talking afterwards lol, but it could just show that the interrogation is still in Es’ control.)
Their “Sing your sins” is the final priming nudge to get them to think of their actions as a sin, revealing their guilt.
Once activated, the prisoner enters a sort of trance/sleeping state. It’s very much like REM sleep, with the machine forcibly activating neurons and recording the output. The prisoners have asked Es what they saw, meaning they don’t remember the mvs. I like to think the prisoners do experience the mv in real time, acting as the major version of themself that appears, but can’t remember it afterwards. It’s when you experience a dream, but as soon as you wake up you’re just left with fleeting emotions and memories right on the tip of your tongue.
The video plays immediately upon extraction -- whether on a huge projection or little screen depends on which room it’s in. It simultaneously saves the memory so that Es can rewatch it later (on those old TVs in the jailbreak mix). The machine downloads the song and video together, but requires special parts to retrieve them. The technology is pretty new and fragile, so if one is broken, there might be a delay between when Es can hear the extracted song and see it with the video. (That’s my justification for Kotoko’s delays -- after 9 prisoners the parts wear out, or maybe Mikoto himself overheats it with his complex situation.)
Based on the lack of conversation we get afterwards, I picture Es leaving before the prisoner wakes from the trance. The machine adjusts their brain back to normal before they awaken, restraints freed and able to return to the rest of the prison.
It’s very much like a dream, so it’s not harmful despite the amnesia/head injuries the prisoners have. It does, however, exhaust them. Brain activity alone takes a lot of energy, so forced brain activity with added emotional strain would cause them to feel pretty drained the rest of the day.
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The most interesting dynamics in Enterprise to me so far (I’m a few episodes into season 2):
Hoshi and T’Pol: Partially because they’re my two favorite characters, but also I’ve found almost every scene they’ve shared compelling. I think they have the capacity to understand each other really well and I wish they interacted more. Also they should hold hands again and maybe kiss.
Hoshi and Phlox: I love the few indications so far that they’re friends. Their dynamic is so cute, and I love the scene of Hoshi learning Phlox’s language, and the apparent ease and comfort they have talking to each other. Phlox feels a bit distant from the rest of the crew in most episodes so far, which is a shame, but the exception I think would be his scenes with Hoshi. I could be convinced to ship them, I think.
T’Pol and Phlox: Being the only two non-humans on a ship full of humans makes their dynamic really interesting to me, especially given how different they are in basically every other way. So far, their interactions haven’t had much depth to them, but the potential is there.
Hoshi and Travis: Every indication is that they’re close friends even if there haven’t been a huge number of scenes between them. The scene of Hoshi convincing Travis to sit in the captain’s chair was so cute. I like to think they know everything about each other and are best friends who maybe date each other for a little while at some point.
Archer and Travis: This seems like a potentially really interesting mentor/mentee relationship. It could have the potential to be a little bit messed up which I enjoy in these types of relationships. Maybe a bit of a Janeway and Harry thing going on perhaps?
Hoshi and Malcolm: I thought these actors worked really well together in the few scenes they were in together. I love the idea of Malcolm training Hoshi to shoot. I know I’m shipping literally everyone with Hoshi here, but I do think they have chemistry. I’m hoping the show never actually tried to make them a couple at some point because that would probably ruin it for me (I rarely like canon ships in Star Trek).
Trip and Malcolm: I’m grudgingly putting this one on the list because this is one of the dynamics we’re Supposed to care about as the audience, but okay, they got me here, their friendship is fun, so long as you ignore the sexism. Idk if I ship them, really, but I get why people do. There are some definite Julian/Miles vibes here.
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