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(138.5KB, 613x800) >>61640
>>61641
>immediately assume that implies the monster girl wants to kill or eat you
There is always a danger to dealing with the unfamiliar or the foreign, the strange or the monstrous, even if there is also potential. It is harder to read or interpret than that which you know well, harder to predict. There is a risk of being taken advantage of or devoured, or of losing yourself. Sometimes there needn't even be any malice involved: sometimes there's just such a disparity between you two that one could harm the other without intending it. Have a fable of Aesop's:
>Two pots, one made of earthenware and the other of brass, were carried down a river during a flood. The Brazen Pot told his companion to keep by his side for protection. "Thanks for your offer," said the Earthen Pot, "but actually what I'm afraid of is you. If you touch me even slightly, I'm sure I'll break into pieces. But if you keep at a distance, I may float down in safety."
Does this mean interacting with the foreign is bad? Of course not. Does this mean monsters are necessarily bad? No although that's more complicated and I don't want this post to get too tl;dr. But to interact with it safely, you need some distance, carefulness, ritual: you need hospitality, an almost dead concept in an age where people see no way to encountering the foreign that isn't "spread your ass for it and pretend it's exactly the same as you" or "exterminate" (case in point, many people think the former is hospitality).
I've read up till May in Arrow Runner and I'm going to catch up in a bit, but so far it's a little disappointing. It's a strange feel to see a fat elf manga handle characters, worldbuilding, and dealing with the foreign better than this. Arrow Ranger kind of feels like the writer started with a joke, made a couple small tweaks to the standard /monster/ template, and has been on autopilot ever since.