[Report This]Date: November 04 2023 1:20 AM Title: The Temple of Desire
Hey, Oklahoma did it! She said the thing! Yeah, she projected it onto Mika, but she still said it! (I know, I know, Mika is the archeologist here, but Oklahoma is giving off way more Indy vibes than him).
It was nice to get a heavy dose of Emelia this chapter, both because I really enjoy her character and because it gave us some more insight into the Nekos in general.
But my first thoughts after reading it actually centered around Yukia. My first impression of her was that she was a blend of cruelty and casual indifference, but after her "teasing" of Higgins and her mixed reaction to seeing one of her sisters tiny has made me rethink this.
The way she eagerly instigated that fight with Higgins and even complimented him both for his usefulness and when he managed to snag her in midair seems to indicate a respect and maybe even a slight fondness of the mercenary. Of course, that didn't stop her from almost eating him. I think it's pretty safe to say that if Emelia hadn't been there, Higgins would be dead.
Likewise, Yukia's initial reaction to Myla shrinking was notably one of concern (completely different from the sociopath Natasha's, for sure). But again, Yukia ended up not only wanting to eat the tiny Neko but lamented that there wasn't another one around to eat. That doesn't seem to match her initial concern at all.
So now I'm left wondering if Yukia's eating habits are the product of compulsion rather than desire or taste. Higgins's label of scatterbrained seems to fit her well, and maybe Emelia's answer regarding Yukia's age to explain said scatterbrainedness might explain this seemingly inconsistent behavior. Maybe she just can't be bothered to pay much attention to the short term, leaning on instinct rather than feeling or thought in some situations (she was in something of a trance when she almost ate Higgins). Or perhaps this is part of the curse they keep talking about? Then again, maybe Emelia's right, and Yukia is just plain crazy.
In any case, Yukia really grabbed my attention this chapter, and I'm eager to see if anything comes of all of this in the chapters ahead (or if I'm the one who's crazy and all of that was actually nothing).
As for Emelia, I was wondering what it would be that would finally cause her to break away from her sisters. And I have to say, that was about as good a reason as I could've imagined. To realize, after all this time, that the thing she was fighting for wasn't the thing all of her people were fighting for had to be a sobering moment. In the last chapter, we found out that she didn't share their fondness for human entrees but had looked the other way, using the excuse that things had to be this way to save their people. Now she sees that Natasha and company don't want to save their people at all; they just want to gorge themselves on smaller people, including other Nekos.
It's a little hard to comprehend the feeling of following a leader for literal centuries only to find out they're batshit. I assume it isn't a good feeling, though.
Now she's ready to make the jump from antagonist to protagonist, and that's always a fun transition. It has already been pretty fun seeing Oklahoma and her together, but it'll be intriguing to see how she interacts with Mika and Chloé. With Chloé, it could be interesting to see what advise someone like Emelia, who has maintained the no-human diet for some time now (I'm not sure how long "long enough" is for someone who, as far as we know at this point, could well be straight up immortal), might have for a Naga struggling to keep her meals human-free.
And, of course, Emelia is probably going to want to "test" her theory about Mika. I'm not sure how Chloé would feel about that (since this is one of your stories, she could be into it, or she could be the jealous type). I'm also curious what Mika's reaction would be to finding out Emelia's "plans" for him. (In case I haven't made it clear, the quote marks mean "sex." I just wanted to make sure there wasn't any confusion on that).
Then again, it could be awhile before we see any of that, as Emelia could just as easily mindfuck Oklahoma again and pretend to be one of her contact as she could just tell them the truth outright. That brings a bit more intrigue into the coming meeting, as there's several ways Emelia could approach it.
Also, a quick question: Do all of the Nekos have that brainwashing power? At first I just assumed they had different powers, with Yukia's being shrinking and Emelia's being mindbending, but now we find out that Emelia can shrink people, too. So I'm just curious if all of them have both powers or if Emelia is special in this regard (maybe something to do with her being the archivist?).
As for our two main characters, that ritual was intense! It's impressive that you found a way to make something we've more or less read about earlier in the story (insertion) feel so different here. The way Mika drew things out, a little bit out of teasing but mostly because he wanted to take his time and be more sensual (and yeah, enjoy calling the shots for once, too) drastically changed the tone of the scene in comparison to every other one involving Chloé and him before it. That bit with Chloé contracting her vaginal muscles to give Mika handholds was a pretty unique idea, too. I don't think I've ever seen that done before.
With us getting another glimpse back at the snake goddess's time, I'm really starting to think that what seemed like obvious interpretations of those wall drawings in Chloé's temple weren't so obvious after all. The snake goddess has seemed like a sweetheart for a while now, and seeing her so happy amongst her worshippers continues to paint the picture of a goddess who loves her people rather than one who requires human sacrifice. I think those portrayals of the goddess eating people, as well as Mika's flashback of her getting ready to eat him as the old high priest, were a bit misleading.
Hmm, I wonder if Mika's hidden desire to be eaten by Chloé might be related to all that ...
And finally, while it may be more of a small background thing, I'm really liking how Chloé and Oklahoma's relationship is developing. It seems like Oklahoma is getting a lot more comfortable around Chloé now that she's been around the Naga in human form for awhile, and Chloé even invited Oklahoma to stare at her naked (ah, the perks of friendship!). Like I said, it's not much, but I'm really enjoying the dynamic between these two.
Author's Response:
Yukia, like most of the Nekos, doesn't have the healthiest mental state, the curse mentioned does impact her predatory impulses like you thought, more detail will be revealed later.
Emilia is kind of like a vegetarian trying to make it work with family that runs a steakhouse. She's been able to overlook things for a long time, but things have escalated to a point where that's not possible anymore. She's going to be jumping to the other team, and yeah she's definitely going to want to test that theory at some point. How Chloe feels about it remains to be seen.
All of the Nekos have the brainwashing ability, but Emilia is more skilled than most. Think of it like a muscle, it needs to be worked to be in top form, and Emilia uses hers more than most of them do, most could delete a few memories or give you some odd compulsion for a bit, Emilia can make you do her bidding without even realizing you're doing it.
Oklahoma has settled in to the globetrotting adventure lifestyle, I think she makes a good foil for the other two.