Comic for May 20, 2019: Conquering the Inner Wolf

[aitaituo]

Is it nice and gentle? No. Nice and gentle is what should have happened if Euchre and/or Mary were worth a damn as parents. But Rose has to break a lifetime of misunderstandings and fear, and in very short order. If you want to blame anyone for this mess, and how Rose is trying to handle it, blame Euchre. He's clearly known where Raine is this whole time, he knows how to control the talent, he's able to project himself wherever he pleases. He could have been teaching her at any point instead of leaving it up to his cousin to un [censored] the mess he made.

Honestly I am of the opinion they are not really that bad parents. Specially Euchre, I mean they are not good parents by any means, but they are still a notch over those people who sell their babies for some crack money...
That did not sound that well let me ellaborate:
As Raine once told [Missing foreing key] her mother had "ample" opportunity to get rid of Euchre and by extension her without causing much ruckus. But for whatever reason she decided to let the former live and give birth to the later. Also Mary seems to care for Raine in her very own weird and ineffective way. Yeah she send Raine to the middle of nowhere probably to spend her entire life with only her caretaker. However the Order she presided is not particularly fond of Keidran. Just imagine what they would do with a shifting hybrid? And as Trace pointed out a couple years later, she had no lack of enemies, the kind that would hurt her child in a hertbeat, hybrid or not. Of course a better solution would have been to actually teach her to control herself, so Raine would never need to look like a Keidran if she did not wanted to, besides considering her magic potential had she been trained i suspect Trace coup would not have lasted long. On the other hand Euchre has had little agency on the matter, after his secret was discovered he was banished by Mary and her daughter sent to god only knows where to spend her life most likely against his wishes, hell maybe Mary did not bothered telling him she was carrying their daughter. And the come Trace & co blackmailing Euchre into helping in exchange for his ex-partner and daughter life. We know that former Trace was a dangerous genocidal depressive monster with enough magic to make a dragon fell for him so going against him was a pretty bad idea. Yet Euchre freed both Mary an Raine after they were sold to slavery, he took a risk for them.

Was there something I don't recall that would have prevented Euchre and Mary from fleeing the Human Kingdom or living in rural seclusion with Raine? Euchre clearly had freedom of movement and remained with Trace. I've always read the scene where Trace turned Mary into a keidran as him releasing her to suffer whatever ill befalls a keidran found unexpectedly in the Grand Templar's chambers, not as him transforming her and then imprisoning her on top of it. Whatever the case, she ended up free eventually and then made the pact with Ephemural.

They strike me as two ambitious people who put their ambitions above the welfare of their daughter, who was a source of obvious social shame for them both and who they sent away to live in isolation away from them and away from society that might learn of their shame. Euchre found the time to become a father figure to Flora, then a random keidran slave living on the outskirts of Edenmire. He did not find the time to be a father to Raine and still has not despite any possible threat from Trace having completely disappeared. Trace is more of a friend and protector to Raine at this point than Euchre.

[Rafe]

Was there something I don't recall that would have prevented Euchre and Mary from fleeing the Human Kingdom or living in rural seclusion with Raine?

Mainly the fact that Mary, after seeing how Euchre abandoned Rose to be hanged, and hiding the fact that he was a disguised Keidran all the while he was conducting a sexual relationship with her, despised Euchre to the point she probably came very close to killing him. He basically ruined her life, and she didn't have the strength of character to be a mother to Raine, much less forgive Euchre.

[aitaituo]

Was there something I don't recall that would have prevented Euchre and Mary from fleeing the Human Kingdom or living in rural seclusion with Raine?

Mainly the fact that Mary, after seeing how Euchre abandoned Rose to be hanged, and hiding the fact that he was a disguised Keidran all the while he was conducting a sexual relationship with her, despised Euchre to the point she probably came very close to killing him. He basically ruined her life, and she didn't have the strength of character to be a mother to Raine, much less forgive Euchre.

Lacking the strength of character to be a mother is the same as being a bad mother in my book.

[Eclipse]

You know, I had always thought of Euchre as more or less of a good guy. Like sure, he and Sirus manipulate things behind the scenes, but we've generally been presented with the picture that he's working towards the "greater good". He and Sirus seem to be on the "pro new good Trace" side, and we haven't seen him like actually harm or intend to harm the main characters.
Sure, there's the whole issue with him and Rose at the gallows, but like he said to Mary afterwards, he was put into a compromising situation. What could he have done, that wouldn't have resulted in him being found out as a Keidran and *both* of them hanged? He never intended to hurt Rose, and it's not like he didn't care about her *at all*, he was suddenly put in a very difficult situation and had to make a difficult decision.
And also yes, he did help Trace with his coup, but I get the impression that he did it just as much to save Mary as to gain power (and maybe, if he suspected the coup would succeed without him, to *not* get on Trace's bad side). He agreed to help Trace on the condition that he not kill Mary. And then when Mary and Raine were sold into slavery, it was Euchre who secretly freed them. Also, the last time we saw Euchre and Mary, they seemed to be on good terms. (what is Mary up to these days, incidentally?). Similarly, Euchre and Rose are... well... on speaking terms at least. So it seemed to me that sure, Euchre had done some [censored] things in the past, but he's pretty much a good guy now and trying to set things right.

But your comment really made me rethink all this. You're absolutely right; from Euchre's conversation with Rose, it's clear that he's known about Raine and group B all this time. He must have known about the trouble they've been facing, and in particular, about Raine's issues with being a wolf and everything. But instead of being the father he should be and actually spending time with his daughter and being there for her and *helping* her with a problem that he's effectively responsible for, he's just content with watching her from the sidelines. Hell, we haven't even seen evidence that he *has* been helping group B even from behind the scenes; they've been in some serious life-or-death problems and there's no evidence that they were saved by anything other than their own luck and abilities. (unless you want to suggest that Nibbly is Euchre / is working for Euchre). And even if so... if he really is a better person now, he really should be there for his daughter, there to support her, there to teach her how to control her abilities. So yeah... I guess your comment made me realise that Euchre is still really a dick.

Well Euchre is definitely "good" compared to the other Master Templars, but anyone looks good next to that lot so that's not saying much. He generally does seem to care about his family, but he doesn't seem to go out of his way for them and when push comes to shove he seems to be too cowardly to help them when they really need it. There was Rose's hanging, of course. But not helping Raine is another very good point, we don't know why he hasn't been helping Raine, but it's a safe bet that he was too afraid to expose his true nature or face Raine.

I also get the feeling that he is trying to gain power in all of this, and possibly not for good reasons. He's done a lot of scheming in this series and he's pretty high up in the Templars, so I don't think his motives are entirely pure. But it's hard to say for sure, we don't know enough about him to pinpoint where exactly he sits on the morality scale. I think it's safe to say he's somewhere in between good and evil though, as he's done enough to show he's not entirely one or the other.

[Technic[Bot]]

Was there something I don't recall that would have prevented Euchre and Mary from fleeing the Human Kingdom or living in rural seclusion with Raine? Euchre clearly had freedom of movement and remained with Trace. I've always read the scene where Trace turned Mary into a keidran as him releasing her to suffer whatever ill befalls a keidran found unexpectedly in the Grand Templar's chambers, not as him transforming her and then imprisoning her on top of it. Whatever the case, she ended up free eventually and then made the pact with Ephemural.

They strike me as two ambitious people who put their ambitions above the welfare of their daughter, who was a source of obvious social shame for them both and who they sent away to live in isolation away from them and away from society that might learn of their shame. Euchre found the time to become a father figure to Flora, then a random keidran slave living on the outskirts of Edenmire. He did not find the time to be a father to Raine and still has not despite any possible threat from Trace having completely disappeared. Trace is more of a friend and protector to Raine at this point than Euchre.

I never said they were good parents by any measure.
As you point out had Euchre decided not to [expletive] the grand Templar for fun and profit and had actually come clean to Mary before they went on to the [expletive] and Mary had been a bit more tolerant about other species. Maybe, just maybe they could have ended as a family. Mary was the most powerfull human in the world and Euchre had enough magic to change species so they really could have come out with a feasible idea. For example had they taugth Raine how to control her powers no one would ever had to know she is not human.
But alas that is not how it went. I always seen those two as a couple that let their, grudges, prejudices and fears get the better of them and this in turn ended [expletive] both of them and their daughter. Now that I put it that way, it make
Raines character arc even more sad, she really did nothing wrong but got the worst of it even compared to the rest of the cast.

Mainly the fact that Mary, after seeing how Euchre abandoned Rose to be hanged, and hiding the fact that he was a disguised Keidran all the while he was conducting a sexual relationship with her, despised Euchre to the point she probably came very close to killing him. He basically ruined her life, and she didn't have the strength of character to be a mother to Raine, much less forgive Euchre.

Euchre did used her, lied to her, and betrayed her trust and you could argue he [expletive] using false pretenses but at the very best it all ended as a mere inconvenience. She held her position for several more years until Trace went a deposed her by force, turned her into a wolf and sold her and her daughter to slavery. Besides Mary decided not to eliminate Euchre nor her daughter. I think that the whole plan of sending Raine to the middle of nowhere was equals part not wanting her to damage her position and reputation and genuinely not knowing the best way to keep her safe. From people like, you know, Trace.

Anyhow you could also make a case that Mary does not care at all and only stayed with Raine as a wolf for mere convenience. After all after the whole Ephemeral debacle she conveniently fell of the face of the earth abandoning her daughter yet again. but this time with a bunch of strangers in the middle of a war. And of course you could also say that Euchre is as much as a psycho as the rest of Trace pose and is only "helping" him right now because it happens to further his agenda and since he does not really care about anything else there is no real reason to talk with her daughter. I mean it is possible but it strikes me as too cartoonishly evil but that is just me.

[AndreRhineDavis]

As you point out had Euchre decided not to [expletive] the grand Templar for fun and profit and had actually come clean to Mary before they went on to the [expletive] and Mary had been a bit more tolerant about other species. Maybe, just maybe they could have ended as a family.

The impression I got was that Euchre did not intend to use/exploit Mary or sleep with her for "fun and profit", but rather that they were both attracted to each other, and one thing naturally led to another.
I really don't blame Euchre for not telling Mary the truth. She was angry that he didn't tell her the truth before they slept together, but if he had, if he had revealed what he truly was, it's very plausible that Mary would not have been ok with it, and he might have been handed over to the Templar for interrogation / torture / execution. He would have to really really really trust her before letting her know his secret, but 1) Euchre does not seem to be the trusting type, and 2) It's plausible that that level of trust wouldn't have arisen until after they had slept together and were very intimate together.
Like, I see it as akin to a Jew living in Nazi Germany and being able to hide their Jewishness. I mean sure, you could say that they should ideally tell someone who they "really are" before getting in a relationship and sleeping with them, but it totally makes sense for them to never ever tell anyone because revealing that in that society means almost certain death. We aren't told anything explicitly about Mary's views on Keidran (pre-Euchre), but it's likely she would have had the same general anti-Keidran prejudice that most humans have.

This quote is particularly relevant:

Mary: You had a choice! You could have run! Taken her and left this place. You used her, just as you used me.
Euchre: I never meant for any of this to happen. I wasn’t trying to use anyone.
Mary: Then why… why pretend to care about me, if not to use me?
Euchre: I wasn’t pretending! I… I just… hadn’t planned for it to happen…
Mary: You didn’t seem to care enough to tell me the truth before bedding me. All that time we spent together…
Euchre: Would it have turned out any better for me if I had? It’s your people just now who were preparing to murder an innocent girl they simply suspected of being a spy. It might not excuse what I’ve done, but are you honestly surprised I’d keep what I am a secret from you?

As Euchre rightfully said, if they were going to EXECUTE Rose simply because she was a Keidran who happened to be snooping around the area, how much moreso does it seem certain that they would execute Euchre, a Keidran who actually infiltrated their organisation while posing as a human?
Ideally he wouldn't have gotten into a relationship in the first place so as not to hurt anyone by lying to them and sleeping with them under false pretenses but... people get attracted to each other and fall in love despite it not being a good idea... and I just personally feel that Euchre really did the best he could given the situation. I do believe Euchre was genuinely in love with Mary, or at least the relationship was genuine on his part. Mary just feels used because after discovering that Euchre is a Keidran, she thinks he only got close to her for some ulterior motive.

Like is Mary seriously suggesting that she would want Euchre to betray the Templar by taking Rose and escaping? How would that look? They're about to execute this Keidran who might be a spy, then this high-ranking Templar suddenly sneaks away with her? It would make Euchre look like a spy working for the Keidran! I really don't think Mary is being rational in this scene, she's clearly very hurt and angry. Any other day, she would say that a Templar who escapes with a prisoner has committed treason, and a Keidran pretending to be a Templar should be executed. She didn't give a [censored] about Rose before when she was going to MURDER her. It's only now that she's taking Rose's side and seemingly caring about her life because she and Rose are now on the "same side" against Euchre; she empathises with Rose here because she sees another person who was manipulated and exploited by Euchre, another victim of his quest for power. Which is why she's suddenly caring about Rose when the previous scene she was willing to kill her. But yeah, like I said, Euchre never intended to hurt either of them; he just wanted to learn magic from humans, and before he knew it he got swept up in this whole situation and was just trying to do the best he could to just survive. At least, thats my opinion.

Relevant pages:
http://twokinds.keenspot.com/comic/723/
http://twokinds.keenspot.com/comic/726/

[aitaituo]

When it comes to the sexual aspects of their relationship, I see it more akin to Barnie Stinson than that French-Jewish guy who joined the SS to avoid getting sent to a concentration camp.

[Cosmacelf]

The other thing about Euchre is that he’s quite a bit older and wiser now. He did foolish things in his youth that older and wiser Euchre would never have done. People do change.

[tony1695]

Is this even Rose's plan? After all, Euchre is capable of communicating with her. If anyone would know a really quick and effective way to get Raine familiar with her powers, it'd be him.