how do you think Emma (post cannon or otherwise) and ashye would interact? I don’t think Ashye would hate her just because she’s Norman’s friends since she gets along with Ray in the side story decently enough
Ayshe definitely wouldn't hate Emma. While being raised by a demon, she's not misanthropic; she just hates a specific group of people.
I talk about this on my Gildayshe musings post and this recent poll, but the first conversation Ayshe has with Don and Gilda has them reacting like this:
(Chapter 139)
After she just told them Norman was behind her father's murder—someone who was her whole world—they're in tears at the thought of not being in conflict with him. Even when considering the possibility that Norman ultimately plans to kill Sonju and Mujika after they bring them to the paradise hideout, if there's a chance of negotiating with him, they'll take it.
It goes even further when Norman betrays them and uses them as bait just like they suspected in chapter 135.
(Chapter 144)
Gilda still pleads with Mujika, after Norman just tried to have her and Sonju—her companion of 700 years—killed, to help them stop Norman before things become irrevocable for him and everyone around him. She still considers him her older brother after all of that. Don looks empathetic and in agreement with her while Ayshe is left in open-mouthed shock, because she could understand if Gilda didn't want anything to do with him at this point.
But she also understands family, and her new companions have made it clear that her father's murderer is still important to them. She doesn't begrudge them for it.
(Chapter 167)
And she doesn't hesitate to save them when they return to Grace Field.
She has known them for ten days.
(Mystic Code Book Chapter 7)
Within the span of four days, she's willing to have this conversation with Ray:
(Chapter 169)
This is after Emma has made it clear how close she and Ray are with Norman:
(Chapter 161)
She's conciliatory to Don and Gilda when she says "it's true that he ate humans, but to me, he was my father" and here. Despite acknowledging that familial connection she feels toward him, she gives all of them an out. 'You don't have to spare my feelings. I understand why humans hate demons.' Knows most demons wouldn't think twice about eating her if given the opportunity. She's downcast and gives a light sigh of resignation because she's aware of how bizarre this would look to another human. They can conceptually see why she feels the way she does, but not how profound that loss is for her, so she'd rather skip the attempt at sympathy.
It's why she's so shocked at Ray's blunt declaration reaffirming her love for her father as valid and gives her full attention to him in earnest. She follows it up by saying their parents were also good people.
Given their prominence in the story since the start, I'm fairly confident the figures on the left and bottom center are Norman and Don respectively so all five of the oldest Grace Field kids are included here and poignantly attached to her sentiment. It's possible she's lying to Ray to be reciprocally kind or mentally separating the kids into differing levels of good with Norman at the bottom to still technically qualify him, but with less reason to lie to him between the validation of her feelings and the intimacy of the setting I'm disinclined to believe the former, and with the latter he's still included regardless.
(Chapter 181)
With all that in mind in addition to how she's willing to let Norman and Vincent hold her dogs' puppies post-timeskip, it would be very bizarre for Ayshe to hate Emma. If anything she'd think Emma's too good for Norman lol
I also imagine there would be a lot of overlap between how she interacts with Emma and Ray.
(TPN Light Novel 4: Films of Memories - “Don and Gilda”)
She reacts this strongly to Don and Gilda even thinking about being burdens in the post-canon. Despite lacking those memories, there are still convictions she holds that are etched into her very being. If she was given a rundown of Ayshe's history, she'd also conclude that her father's species was irrelevant if he saved her and provided her with unconditional love, possibly more forcefully than Ray. It wouldn't come as a surprise to Ayshe, given her interactions with all the other Grace Field children at this point, but it'd be comforting all the same, that reinforcement of why Emma's friends and family cared so deeply for her and spent years searching for her. There was never really tension between them, but it makes Ayshe feel more at ease around her all the same.
I'm also a very big proponent of wlw Ayshe, so I enjoy @dyslexicsponge's take of her having a crush on Emma (intimidating Norman by going to hang out with him because he's so obvious about his crush on Emma and Ayshe's so smitten she doesn't know who else she could possibly commiserate with optional lol).
I was screaming internally half the time while reading, so let's get right to it.
First of all, I'm really happy that Musica didn't hesitate at all when seconds ago they wanted to kill her. I'm not sure if this is kindness or naivety, maybe both, but it made me really happy.
Then Norman. I was also very devastated when the kids found out Norman's true intentions. It's interesting how Gilda's view of Norman changed now, visible in this panel. In her eyes, he has gone completely evil.
And looking further into Gilda's monologue, we find that Norman doesn't care enough about Emma to wait for her anymore. I had some theories about Norman wavering because of Emma, but I don't think so at this point. He is not the same Norman who was willing to do something reckless for Emma. His only plan was to kill, kill, and kill again.
All this monologue lead to this impactful panel. Its too sad, I don't think I can take it.
After the scene change, we're back to Emma and Ray. Their exchange was so quick, it felt a bit unnatural. Perhaps it was because Emma is hiding something. Her smile is definitely not genuine. I just hope that the reward would be revealed next week.
Since Emma now knows Norman's true intentions, I'm very interested to see how their "talk" will go down.
And of course now they're all gonna be fighting, it's gonna be chaos. Hold on to your seats, it's gonna be wild. And the caption at the bottom reads "on to the stage of the final battle", I don't think I'm ready for it to go on its final arc yet...
rachel
Note: we're almost at 600 followers!!!! I'm so excited!
