Skilled lion-doggo
Benji still being watched by the other guardian doggo.
Cameo appearance: Charlie, the cat in panel three.
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Katsumi, I think you’re confusing “deception” with “narrative”.
DM detector.
my thoughts exactly 😉
Storyteller and trickster, a beast of deception and dishonesty.
Indeed. DMs have to be tricky to keep up the air of mystery in their adventures.
Well, he did trick the twins about his parents way back in chapter 2. And then the scaring people with the masks at the museum. Benji is a bit of a trickster, but it’s been harmless fun so far.
The incident with the mask nearly wasn’t harmless, mostly for Benji. He nearly got cooked by a scared Kai’s fire breathing! Never scare a Hybrid whose natural fight or flight instincts/self defense mechanism is to breathe fire at the aggressor.
Katsumi ponders over
the secret of Benji.
Is he just himself or
a “new Tale of Genji”?
He chats on with young Jin,
learning tales of the East;
letting the kid relax
as he enjoys his ‘feast’.
Benji’s past is shrouded,
unknown, even to him.
He never cares and just
lives his life to the brim.
Benji might be trans or something minor like that. So the “deception” is that he presents himself as a boy when he is biologically female.
Oh, I think this probably has more to do with his green hair and nose.
That’s an interesting theory adam. But I would think Katsumi would have been able to smell Benji’s gender if nothing else and be referring to him as “her.” It could be Benji is a biological boy and acts like it but internally feel like a girl and is just hiding since there is still sadly a very hard stigma against males that identify as females.
As a catacomb master, Benji creates traps and surprises for the characters. Maybe that’s what Katsumi senses as “trickery”.
I like this idea the most. Not sure how Katsumi detects this.
I have two very unpleasant suspicions about what Katsumi is seeing as “deception”.
-Benji doesn’t tell people about his parents until they meet the men in person, because the #HasTwoDaddies topic isn’t pertinent to day-to-day activities.
-Benji himself takes after his parents, and it just hasn’t come up with anyone in the group because he hasn’t found a guy he’s interested in.
If Katsumi is being suspicious of Benji because either of these happen to be true, then either (a) she is ignorant as to why someone might be willing to hide such a thing, or (b) she herself takes issue with such a thing. Neither of those possibilities paint Ka-chan in a particularly flattering light.
I don’t think not realizing the dangers of being open about your sexuality is that bad. It’s possible that Jin and therefore Katsumi didn’t met with any example of persecution due to that – they didn’t exactly had normal life.
Even if they have encountered persecution due to innocuous differences, it would be possible for it to just come across as ‘people coming to the temple for help because of persecution’, with the reasons not being made clear. At least, I’d assume that Jin would be inside the temple when any altercations were happening in response to that use of sanctuary, and the altercations would be happening outside.
Also, very frequently, in those altercations, derogatory words are used in place of plain language, so the raised voices of the persecutors could easily not enlighten people unfamiliar with those derogatory words.
You might expect those people to also seem like they’re deceptive, for not admitting while they’re being persecuted. But when you’re running from a domestic violence situation, the motivation for that violence may not be on the forefront of your mind.
I have a few possible thoughts on Katsumi’s thoughts of Benji’s “deception”.
– Benji first met Katsumi in a context where asking about her would probably have generated a lot of confusion. But, as a GM, Benji’s probably good at knowing something but not acting on it, at least not immediately. He could have recognized that nobody else noticed Katsumi, identified that Katsumi seems to be “with” Jin, and is thus waiting until they’re alone to ask Jin who Katsumi is and what’s up with her.
– Benji could have a great deal of social anxiety, due to the traumatic past he must have had, and he could be brushing off PTSD that he’s not admitting to. If so, he’s probably constantly going through his learned routine of social techniques and coping with what would otherwise be his crippling fear.
– Benji could have some trauma associated with his current family and hostile reactions he’s gotten in response to it. He passed his family life off as something he’s comfortable with, but I’ve known people who would do that with new people in the hope that they’d be as accepting as the twins and their parents have been, rather than assuming that everyone is nasty. Katsumi’s only seen Benji in public, the environment in which he has to be careful about actually revealing that family situation.
Ah, sorry, but Benji hasn’t met Katsumi. Neither have the twins, or the doctors, or anyone else that we know of other than Jin.
Katsumi has met them, but with an incorporeal being that’s not the same thing.
Some Ed is suggesting that Benji CAN in fact see Katsumi, and hasn’t brought it up because he’s noticed that no one else can.
Maybe a lying to yourself deal?
Maybe its that he is always hiding a part of himself from everyone and she sees it as him being “deceitful”.
Usually people like that are guarded or dont share all about themselves with people.
Well if Benji is being deceptive about anything we have yet to see what it might be. Can’t really recall if Robin has dropped any hints about it in comic, would practically have to go back and carefully look over each one he’s appeared in if there is something. About the only trickery I can quickly recall would be scaring Kai and Rex with the mask at the museum and the quest reward in their Catacombs & Drakes session. Both of those are really more pranks than deception though. Whatever it is Katsumi seems to be the only one to have noticed. Oh…. on Adam’s theory! Kaya’s ringtone from that show! Guessing it was a kinda for girls cartoon. Benji recognized it though and seemed to be a fan of it.
I bet the trickery is about Benji’s two dads , when he lets peoples discover it themselves . And the deceiving on other persons is maybe because he doesn’t try to search after his biological parents ?
By the way , what about your health problems ? Going better ?
I personally don’t feel the “trickery” is anything as simple as something about Benji’s gender or his parents. Katsumi claims he has “never encountered anything like him before”. I doubt Katsumi would have never encountered another person who was gay or trans or anything like that before. I kinda wonder if it has anything to do with Benji’s biological parents or past from before he was adopted that even he is not aware of about himself. Nothing we have seen of Benji so far seems like something that even a magical spirit or whatever Katsumi is could have never seen before and be stumped over.
My guess, repressed resentment about being abandoned by his biological parents that he hides with his cheerfulness.
Daniel here. A interesting possibility. A lingering voice in the back of his head, asking why they let him go? He’s said already he’s fine with it, but even with animal traits he’s still Human, and that IS a problem Humans suffer from time to time…
That’s one of my theories as well, harboring repressed negative emotions. His expression from when he was discussing his adoption with Kai and Kaya when they first met leads credibility to this.
Benji is in fact an alien from a parallel universe who accidentally ended up in this universe while on a tour of a dimensional physics lab where a button they’d all been warned not to press got pressed and his ‘parents’ are in fact two of the researchers (who are in fact a couple) who also were transported into this world… Yeah, probably not, but if we’re going to speculate why not go all out? And it’s no more bonkers than Otherworld which was an actual TV show in the 80s in which a family ended up in a parallel world after going into one of the Pyramids in Egypt on a fake tour.
He claims to be 14, but he’s really 98?
He looks *REAL* good for his age, then! 😄
And the eye of the doggo is upon you…
Nice to see Kasumi is on such high alert.
I’m still wondering about Ancient hybrids, that is to say, hybrids that display properties of ancient/extinct animals. Given the deal with mythical hybrids, which Jin and the twins are, I think it’s a reasonable question.
Panel 2: There should be a comma at the end of “classmates”.
Jesse’s Adventure: Ditto “friend”.
Also, this dispels my theory for the next chapter.
It’s possible to insert a comma to indicate a pause, but Jin said the sentence without a pause, and therefore there is no comma.
I think people are on the wrong track with some of their thoughts on the trickery thing. I think it’s more like benji’s trick is that he’s getting our young friend to create his own positivity and fun. Almost tricking him into having his own fun and enjoying his time while they work. It’s not exactly a deception, but it’s a nice trick. And certainly he’s good with others.
And really, the Trans ideas other people seem to think just doesn’t feel like it’s there. He’s got two dads after all, so I’m pretty sure he’s pretty confident in how he feels about himself and his identity. No, I just get the feeling whatever big brother liondog feels is something else. Maybe it’s just that Benji is so good at making people feel positive about themselves in his own tricky way. Whatever it is, it’s just something we need to wait and see what develops, because I don’t think he has any trouble with who he is.
Possibly, hard to say at this point. The only thing I’m pretty sure about is it’s nothing sinister or wrong, Benji’s just not that kind of guy. Whatever it is I’m sure we’ll learn about it in time. It could just be like Robin said: that Benji is just really good working with kids and Katsumi, being the guarded type, isn’t sure what to make of it.
Yeah, the trans thing would be kind of a cliché and not really make sense, but (as others have said) it could be referring to the way Benji “acts” to put Jin at ease, or his role as a DM/storyteller.
Daniel the Human thinks it might be that he’s “tricking” Jin to relax more, allowing him to have fun in a new situation. Or like Cliff says above, he could be sad deep down about being abandoned by his genetic parents…
Me, I think Benji might be able to detect Kasumi somehow, with enhanced “doggy” senses…
Then Katsumi thinks that Benji is secretly a Tanuki.
I was thinking coyote myself
Not enough explosions.
I wonder what Katsumi is sensing and if it actually is coming from Benji. Katsumi may think the aura of deception is coming from Benji because she’s focused on him, but it may just be her instincts warning her of a coming danger (likely Larissa and Dinah). The aura of trickery could be just repressed emotions that Benji doesn’t share with anyone or something about himself that he’d be too embarrassed to share (maybe he’s a closet nudist, he did answer the door in his underwear one time…).
In regards to Katsumi’s claims of never encountering someone like him, my theories have two prominent prerequisite scenarios: 1. She is an actual Komainu spirit/yokai born centuries before Jin and has been invisible to humans until a Hybrid child was born with the ability to perceive her (again, Jin) and they’ve been bound to each other ever since; 2. She’s somewhat of a spiritual twin to Jin (rhyme not really intended) born alongside him or from his spirit like a Stand; either way, my theories regard Katsumi as having encountered both good people and bad people (with theory 1 Katsumi having seen more and likely encountered various types of evil people ranging from tragic to sociopathic) but somehow Benji is something she hasn’t seen before and that triggers her suspicion even if he’s genuinely kind and a good boy, er.. Person.
I wonder if the Komainu and Jin would be the ones to discover the Villains’ Plot before it’s triggered.
Katsumi is suspicious of Benji? Just wait until she sees Larrisa.
K: [Thoughts] What is she doing? That female definitely has malfeasance in mind. What is in that jar anyway? Ooh, I love fish!
Larrisa: [Thoughts] Now I just have to get close enough to their food truck and … That thing is huge! I needed to bring more fish heads. Well, this much should still get them shut down, even if it is not enough to cover the whole thing. Now, carefully open the lid and .. What the?! Where did it all go? Did I grab the wrong bottle? Thunderpants switched jars on me somehow!
K: [ Thoughts ] Not bad, but it could do with more seasoning.
I’m wondering if he may be a Mythic. And the same vein as Jin and the twins. Maybe he’s like American Mythic descendant of coyote a trickster God in his own fashion.
The Cu Sith is a mythical hound from Scotland that has green fur, although it is described as dark green.
And one of the few hounds who literally have a worse bark than their bite .. as in the third in a row will kill people with terror.
Since most mythical creatures of the British Isles have some relation to the Fae (who are well know for being natural tricksters) this could be what Katsumi is feeling. No actual deception, but a inherent aura of trickery.
Better than the black dog. I don’t remember the exact myth behind the black dog but seeing the black dog was sort of like a banshee the mint the death was close at hand.
Has anyone noticed the flamingo tacos store? Tacos made out of flamingos… It feels creepy to me.
“Flamenco” – relates to music and dance. 🙂
Dancing tacos are even creepier.
Unless they’re referring to dancing while making/serving the tacos?
…No, that’s just a spill waiting to happen.
It’s a good thing they haven’t hired Kaya. She’s a great dancer, but her energy and enthusiasm is bound up o end up throwing the food all over the place… Especially in the faces of other customers.
The name could also mean that the deliciousness of the tacos evokes the compulsion to dance in ecstasy.
@Turtimus
Tacos that induce ecstacy in the eater are creepier still.
@Suomynona
I meant that the ecstasy came from how good the food tastes, I never meant anything creepy by it.
Kazumi *could* be sensing thing’s like Benji’s trickery during Catacombs & Drakes sessions, what with all the traps laid in dungeons and whatnot.
…Could be going off *especially* hard if her senses are going by the “fiction = lying” definition. (Which I think is a load of nonsense – it’s not like you’re trying to convince people the fairytale is real – but it’s a common enough trope that I think it’s worth mentioning. =/)
…If that were the case, I’d think she’d have noticed this around all kinds of storytellers though. …Unless she somehow has managed to not encounter a lot of them?
Katsumi.
The “fiction=lying” thing reminds me of the aliens from Galaxy Quest who, despite being able to recreate the technology from a sci-fi show made by a species whose greatest feat of space travel was to their (our) moon and actually make it work, had only recently discovered lying. It’s amazing how a species like that, unable to grasp the concept of fiction, could be creative enough to achieve interstellar travel. Storytelling has been a huge part of our culture for who knows how long, I guess the idea of a species that has no concept of fiction is quite alien to us, so to speak. You’d think that a Lion Dog who’s lived amongst Humans can tell the difference between actual lies and fiction… Then again, there are people who have difficulty telling the difference between reality and fiction…