The Font of Dubious Wisdom

No. Not like that. Why, brain, why.

And then my brain was like "You know there's that unexplained probably a ghost in the Emerald case in Jeweler Richard" which is also true, because that author writes almost entirely SFF except Jeweler Richard, and why is that ghost there which they literally never address again. What was that, exactly?

No. Brain, why won't you offer something useful.

And then it offered up one of the darker fantasy series I've ever read, which does have supernatural elements, and is character-driven, and does have the horrors of....frankly everything, but definitely also small-mindedness. Would you like to try The Doctrine of Labyrinths? They're deeply disturbing, but they are pretty good. I don't know if I'd recommend reading them without at least a trigger warning list, but, you know.

I think "The horrors of small-mindedness" is not something I super gravitate toward. I think "the horrors of" anything is not usually my alley. Small towns are something I think I'd like more in theory than I've ever actually. Read. Also my brain keeps insisting this should be the horror genre for absolutely no reason, and I don't really read a lot of those.

...to be fair, comparing himself to a princess later did not help.

They are generally speaking on the exact same page about decisions without needing to discuss it, and the few times they do discuss, they come to an agreement without commands being issued.

Stan doesn’t do what Xeno tells him to, because Xeno never tells him to do anything. The closest he comes is “Don’t shoot” and that’s less an order and more a panicked “wait wait wait situation’s changed talk first” than an order the same way “Stop!!!” is when someone is about to get hit by a car. Other than that, he’s mostly just giving Stan information, trusting Stan will use it the way he expects because…he…trusts…Stan and knows him very well.

Sometimes he asks if Stan is capable of stuff. This is not an order, this is a genuine ask, because he knows Stan is honest and good at evaluating that. Stan agrees to do these things, but it is not an order from Xeno to do it, because Xeno is asking him.

The first time we see Stan, he's hanging around in the tree while the communication between Senku's team and the Perseus was getting picked up, to indicate they were being heard, then he hops out of a tree, kills some wolves, and shortly after he's settled in with a machine gun. The fanbook describes this as Leonard picking up the signal and then Xeno dispatching Stan to go deal with the situation. The manga looks a bit more like Stan picked it up himself, but either way, the message was transmitted to Stanley, since he seems to have not been at home at the time.

And we also know, because both Stan and Xeno say so, that shooting first questions later was Stanley's idea (Staaaaaaan).

So I'm not sure if they were chatting, if primarily because they were probably listening to Senku's team to determine what was going on with them if possible. So maybe there was some relay of that information to Stanley.

Xeno doesn't seem to interrupt Stan when he's working? He didn't reach out to Stanley until absolutely necessary during the sniping situation. Because Stanley was at work and needed to focus, I suppose.

Good to know that Xeno's probably not the type to text you while you're at the office, I suppose.

I will also have a sorceror in my employ. When a hero or a renegade or a political rival is in a situation where I can safely kill them, they will instead be turned into a bird and added to my aviary. I would not brag about this; it would be a complete secret, known only to me and my sorceror. In situations where I capture multiple people working together, only one would go in the aviary;the others can be imprisoned or killed or whatever. If they escape and I reacquire them later, another one can go in the aviary. The point here is that nobody going in the aviary can safely assume that another bird in there is their teammate.

Because I would be trickling real birds in there, too. And I would train some of them to do 'intelligent' things like tap out prime numbers or scratch shapes into the dirt with their beaks. I would train some of them to pick at the locks and bars as if they were trying to escape. I would not train them all the same way, or train many of them at all.

Sometimes, a new bird goes into the aviary -- fellow revolutionary? Or just a bird? Is it trying to communicate to you that it's human, or just being friendly and imitating you because that's what smart friendly birds do? People would develop opinions and theories over time. They'd amass in a group of the smartest ones, pretty sure that they're closest four or five friends are humans, are using their invented little language of wing-flaps and trills with a human mind behind it... but can they ever really be sure?

Most people, when going into the aviary, would assume that all of the birds are captured enemies. So why are some of them hard to have ongoing communication with, to learn about, to plan with? Are these the natural communication barriers of someone in a bird body, or does being a bird make them stupider over time? Will that happen to them also?

Sometimes, if I capture a pair, I'll imprison them separately, then turn one into a bird and put them in the aviary at the same time as a real bird that's trained to have a couple of their partner's mannerisms.

When I interact with the birds, even in private, I won't secretly mock them or make clever veiled references to their past or act at all like I remember that they were once human. They are my birds, that I imported at great expense. And I've brought a treat for them; some fresh fruit, and another friend to share it with! A new bird!