Very similar friend, not sibling! I still want to see this ship sail. It’s the closest thing Nick has to a healthy relationship, at least before the mind control thing, and one crush he can actually interact with physically.
She is literally a distaff copy of his brain. The only things keeping her from being girl!Nick are her experiences after being created (primary point of divergence), and any of Nick’s memories that were deleted/altered (secondary points of divergence).
I am inclined to follow the rules of Vorkosigan Saga’s Beta Colony, although it is slightly different due to the circumstance of not actually being a genetic clone, but rather a thought pattern clone (and I’m not sure if we have confirmation that she knows this/has his memories). Still, that would make her his clone-sister.
Sibling relationships are genetic. No genes are in play here.
The only rational reason incest is a problem is that it results in genetic problems. If that is no longer a relevant issue, then what’s the problem?
There can very well be other compelling reasons these two should not be in a relationship, but being “siblings” is not one of them, because 1) they aren’t siblings and 2) even if they were, they can’t reproduce genetically.
Eh… she’s exactly his twin except for whatever tweaks Whimsy made to her (which, given her habits and presentation, look pretty minimal), so I’d go with fraternal twin/sister. I’ll admit it’s the closest thing Nick has had yet to a healthy, viable relationship, but that really just shows how far he still has left to go.
(For the record, I view Dr. Lee as Nick’s mom, so you can see why I want that potential ship scuttled.)
It’s pretty obvious that Aimee has deviated enough from Nick to already being a different person so there’s that. But yeah, I think that would be a bigger obstacle to this particular ship then the “incest” angle would. @_@
I’m not a rabbi (or even a Jew, for that matter), but I wouldn’t think powering the Osprey’s basic functions – particularly as it’s life support for his remaining meat – would be more of a problem than an ordinary human’s breathing and beating heart. Flying around might be another matter.
Any action required to save a life is exempt from Shabbat restrictions, so Nick could still observe in the strictest sense by only running his life support systems.
Nick actually has/had a blog (can’t remember the link off the top of my head) and one of the first entries is him talking to a rabbi about all the bits of being Jewish that he’d have a hard time complying with. So he’s got some knowledge of how to work around what needs working around.
I, on the other hand, still have him in my friendslist (look, the only thing that got me to stop using LJ is the “Russian law” thing, and that only shifted me to Dreamwidth, slogan: “We’re just like LJ, only not LJ!”) and the rabbi post is here:
Oh dear, the good ol’ self-sacrifice/self-loathing combo. Yeah, she’s definitely Nick’s sibling.
Very similar friend, not sibling! I still want to see this ship sail. It’s the closest thing Nick has to a healthy relationship, at least before the mind control thing, and one crush he can actually interact with physically.
She is literally a distaff copy of his brain. The only things keeping her from being girl!Nick are her experiences after being created (primary point of divergence), and any of Nick’s memories that were deleted/altered (secondary points of divergence).
I am inclined to follow the rules of Vorkosigan Saga’s Beta Colony, although it is slightly different due to the circumstance of not actually being a genetic clone, but rather a thought pattern clone (and I’m not sure if we have confirmation that she knows this/has his memories). Still, that would make her his clone-sister.
Agreed. We have a brother and sister here, not a shippable pair.
Sibling relationships are genetic. No genes are in play here.
The only rational reason incest is a problem is that it results in genetic problems. If that is no longer a relevant issue, then what’s the problem?
There can very well be other compelling reasons these two should not be in a relationship, but being “siblings” is not one of them, because 1) they aren’t siblings and 2) even if they were, they can’t reproduce genetically.
Indeed, Beta Colony Rules is exactly why I said sibling. 🙂
Beta Colony being Beta Colony that would hardly be any barrier to a ship. ^o^
Eh… she’s exactly his twin except for whatever tweaks Whimsy made to her (which, given her habits and presentation, look pretty minimal), so I’d go with fraternal twin/sister. I’ll admit it’s the closest thing Nick has had yet to a healthy, viable relationship, but that really just shows how far he still has left to go.
(For the record, I view Dr. Lee as Nick’s mom, so you can see why I want that potential ship scuttled.)
I don’t think self-love is an option given Nick’s explicitly stated self-loathing earlier, mental incest aside.
It’s pretty obvious that Aimee has deviated enough from Nick to already being a different person so there’s that. But yeah, I think that would be a bigger obstacle to this particular ship then the “incest” angle would. @_@
It would be the very definition of narcissism; that can’t be “healthy”.
Silly thing, but every time I see the third panel that stuff on the TV looks like Nick’s hand reaching out the yoink the crown.
Well, it’s not Nick’s hand, but what exactly is it?
It’s a limp book trying to crawl off the monitor.
It may soon succeed.
Given everything else we’ve seen so far, that might not be humor so much as prophecy. And it will try to jump at someone once it does.
I think it’s a paper fan. These two are an anime nerd, after all.
Oh, that’s the crown? I’m surprised I didn’t figure that out earlier. I thought it would look more… imposing.
Yeah, that crown had me thinking “Jughead”.
Ha! I was right!
I think that’s the first time I’ve called something 🙂
What do you want to bet the crown was a traditional Whimsy Tiara before Aimee’s self-deprecation kicked in, and she said, “Yeeaaaaahhh, no.”?
I suspect she used the reality-warping powers of the crown to change its appearance into a cheap burger king knock off. 😉
Jonathan Fisher
Y’know, I can definitely believe that. I don’t think Whimsy would have left the power of mind control in the vessel of a purple paper hat.
I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while now, but what’s the black spot on the back of Nick’s head?
It is a kippah. A visibal reference to the fact that Nick is a practicing Jew. Do I spit an American Gods ref
Spot*
No, you don’t. He’s been wearing it pretty much every time we see him projected as his human self. He’s a practicing Orthodox Jew, remember?
I suppose if he were practicing Catholic it’d be difficult to squeeze into the confessional…
Priests are generally accommodating. If you have an inability to go to confession they will visit you.
This does make me wonder if it’s even possible for him to observe Shabbat, being as how he /is/ a vehicle and is powered by electricity.
The workaround is to not turn anything on or off.
I’m not a rabbi (or even a Jew, for that matter), but I wouldn’t think powering the Osprey’s basic functions – particularly as it’s life support for his remaining meat – would be more of a problem than an ordinary human’s breathing and beating heart. Flying around might be another matter.
Any action required to save a life is exempt from Shabbat restrictions, so Nick could still observe in the strictest sense by only running his life support systems.
Nick actually has/had a blog (can’t remember the link off the top of my head) and one of the first entries is him talking to a rabbi about all the bits of being Jewish that he’d have a hard time complying with. So he’s got some knowledge of how to work around what needs working around.
In response to GREEM, there’s a LiveJournal and a WordPress blog that he moved to in 2013, but stopped updating in 2014.
Nick’s WordPress: https://nickzerhakker.wordpress.com/
He had a LJ before that, but I seem to have lost the URL.
I, on the other hand, still have him in my friendslist (look, the only thing that got me to stop using LJ is the “Russian law” thing, and that only shifted me to Dreamwidth, slogan: “We’re just like LJ, only not LJ!”) and the rabbi post is here:
http://zerhakker.livejournal.com/2450.html
The italics should have closed after “not”, but I must have forgotten the backslash.
You don’t have to be a Christian to appreciate that the Sabbath was made to serve man, not man to serve the Sabbath.
I think the possible American Gods reference being asked about was the username “Honey Mead.”
Huh. I should try reading that again.
Has it ever actually been confirmed that he’s Orthodox? Lots of Conservative Jews wear kippot, keep Shabbat, etc.
“Orthodox” was specified in one of the Skin Horse Volume 4 Kickstarter stories, which I do believe are canon:
https://scrivnarium.wordpress.com/2013/10/09/three-problems/
(the line is about 2/3 of the way down; but do yourself a favor and read the whole thing)
Awhyzip, if Shaenon hasn’t drawn that decal, she *should*…
I wasn’t sure either, I actually checked that before I posted. Naturally I ended up rereading the whole story.
awhyzip: OK, that? That was beautiful.
I never thought of Nick as Orthodox, just observant, but I guess Jeff mentioned him being Orthodox in that story so it’s canon.
I never thought Nick was observant about anything. Kinda clueless, actually.
Y’know who’d be perfect for Aimee? Duplicate Nick. The two of them could get together and ride off into the sunset on the Duplicate Baron Mistycorns…
That would solve many loose ends. You’ll win the comment section for the day if it comes to pass.
I gotta say, I’m enjoying watching Aimee emote with her hair.
This is pretty consistent with most nerd girls I know too.
Well, nerd boys as well but there tends to be fewer princess crowns and pigtails.