The tribulations of Nalsa

Won-Tolla · Post by **Won-Tolla** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 11:32 pm

There's been a short (?) revival of the branch where Astra finds herself in a mirror image of Narnia where all the names spell backwards. While planning it I came up with a couple of ideas that on closer scrutiny didn't fit in with what I had written earlier. So here's a couple of "outtakes" from chapter 72877.
The first comes after the remark about kickstarting life. (Deleted because Nalsa had already explained how he created the world.)

"No, it wasn't like that at all!" Nalsa said. "If you have to know, I..." He bent his head and muttered something intelligible.

"Sorry, didn't catch that," Astra remarked. "Must be the fur in my ears."

Nalsa looked up and tossed his mane impatiently. "Look, I sang the world into existence, okay?"

"Sang? You mean, like la la la be light, tit willow, tit willow little birds?"

The lion winced. "Something like that. Only with a better tune and something called harmonics."

The next part had to go because Astra had already mentioned Eve.

"Daughter of Mada?" sha asked. "Don't you mean daughter of... his wife?"

"I do," Nalsa affirmed. "But for some reason her name can't be spoken here."

"You gotta be kidding. I can't say..." The name stuck in her throat. She tried again, then fell silent for a moment. "Oh!" She had meant to say Aha! but that didn't work either. "It's names like A... O... Got it!" She had tried to say Anna and Otto. She stood in deep thought for a while.

"A copper for your thoughts," Nalsa said.

"Oh, I'm just thanking Dionysus."

"For what?"

"That beer and ale aren't palindromes."

Oh, and if anyone should wonder about option 4, it's from the opening of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

There was a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.

JH · Post by JH » Sat Feb 05, 2011 10:31 am

Thanks. If you wanted, I could amend that episode to reinstate those ideas and alter any others that were affected (whether earlier or later) so that they were consistent.

The thread is a lot of fun.

Won-Tolla · Post by **Won-Tolla** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 6:08 am

Actually I like the guitar riff joke better, I had just forgotten about it when I started getting ideas while still in bed.
We could perhaps get something out of the palindrome joke but I don't really have a lot of ideas. It would have to be worked into the previous episode where the ancestor is first mentioned. The catch is that it's Astra who uses the name first, not Nalsa.
I got the idea online anyway; maybe it could be explored in a branch spiltting off before Astra mentions the name.

(By the way, you misspelled Mada's name in 72920.)

JH · Post by JH » Sun Feb 06, 2011 8:39 am

Won-Tolla wrote:(By the way, you misspelled Mada's name in 72920.)

Oops! Not one of the more likely names to be mispelt!

Won-Tolla · Post by **Won-Tolla** » Sun Feb 06, 2011 1:46 pm

Added a bit to the new branch. Prince Naipsac? We've got to find a way to make Astra call him Nappysack. Preferably to his face.

(A hint on reversing names: I find it easier to just type them straight and hit the left arrow between letters. siht ekil)

JH · Post by JH » Sun Feb 06, 2011 9:22 pm

Thanks for the tip. That's very useful. But I think your left arrow key must be broken:

"Narnia isn't our neighbor," she pointed out.

Won-Tolla · Post by **Won-Tolla** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 1:13 am

Well it isn't... darn.

Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to spell backwards!

Won-Tolla · Post by **Won-Tolla** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 1:22 pm

Added another twig. Just in case there's someone who doesn't know, the "cryptic clue" in chapter 92393 is a quote from Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms" (and that explains the chapter title as well). I haven't got an interpretation for it, so it's up to the next writer to dodge the issue.

There was also a bit of confusion about reversed two-part names in one of the chapters. The explanation I just came up with is that Cair Paravel is one name that happens to have a space in it. It's not a Cair by name of Paravel or something, so the name gets totally reversed as Levarap Riac.
Peter Pevensie, however, is two names. That of a family, and that of one member of it. So they get reversed separately but maintain the sequence. Besides I wanted to make it a James Bond moment (or an Arthur Dent moment if you like). The name is Eisnevep, Retep Eisnevep.

JH · Post by JH » Fri Feb 11, 2011 6:02 pm

That's fine. As author, I didn't necessarily agree with Astra. But she feels that she's been messed about, and her only way of retaliating is to be as awkward as possible.

Anableps · Post by **Anableps** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 2:56 am

I don't know if you can do anything with 73278. This was a one-off on my part. I thought that introduction of "foreign" characters from a comic strip might give someone some ideas. (Maybe someone messed around the the tuning on Nalsra's guitar?) Feel free to route around the episode if it does not fit in.

JH · Post by JH » Tue Mar 22, 2011 9:59 am

93278 is a lot of fun. I'm not too well up on philosophy, but I take it that what Nivlac and Sebboh say reflects the positions taken by the original philosophers.