[Haruhi] K:BDH chapter 50

[Muphrid]

Eh, I think the intent of the metaphor is that the brain is like a tapestry, and by bleaching away the memory, it's like it never existed.

But yeah, I can see that there were uncomfortable parts, but Kanae has a covert pervert streak and this scene just expanded on that.  Granted, people may not look at her quite the same after that level of detail, but...

[Arakawa]

Eh, I think the intent of the metaphor is that the brain is like a tapestry, and by bleaching away the memory, it's like it never existed.

But yeah, I can see that there were uncomfortable parts, but Kanae has a covert pervert streak and this scene just expanded on that.  Granted, people may not look at her quite the same after that level of detail, but...

I guess the salient portion of my criticism is that I read a certain amount of parody out of the scene, exhibiting some justified disdain for people who have the tremendous bad taste to ship Kyon and Koizumi in ways that defy any sense of character logic. (And, by extension, to people who peddle spectacularly poorly written yaoi/yuri in general.) Which is all well and good, but (based on how I'm reading it) some of this criticism might be sticking to Kanae (particularly since she's shipping people she knows firsthand, not fictional characters), producing a negative impression of the character that Brian might not have intended. I don't know for certain if other people are seeing it that way.

Everything else I've said around the topic is probably just bluster.

[Brian]

Sorry about the delay in replying; was doing some website overhauls. >_>;;

And then distracted by Shamisen.

And then....

>.>;;

Sorry. :)

"lack of hair years of stress" didn't read as intended on first look.  Maybe add in a "that" in between?

Y...es--  That seems like a good idea. :D

This is still Hiko talking?  WHy does he seem to indicate he can't go to dinner right after he offers to?

I'll have to be clearer with this, I guess.

"I know how that can go -- but I still have to make a late appointment tonight with my boss." he offered sympathetically.  "Hey, talk about it over dinner?  I still have a little bit of time before I have to meet with him."

Does this work better?

I don't know what to think of this passage.  Kunikida comes off a bit clueless or at least too engrossed in drowning his sorrows to think about (a) spilling his guts to a stranger and (b) taking a careful look at who this stranger might work for.  Granted, Hiko's less garish attire may attenuate the latter point.

Hmm.  I plan to touch on this more in later chapters, but it won't do any good if this comes across as implausible or Idiot Ball usage.  I was trying for the angle of, "Well, this guy's a stranger I'll never see again, so what will it hurt to say it all?" -- should I maybe emphasise this more from Hiko's PoV?

(Also, I may change that name. :x)

Boyfriend?

Oops!

"'Too many bullets,' you complained," Haruhi retorted, unable to keep her grin from widening a little.  "It's a magic blade that can banish evil spirits and only causes normal people intense discomfort -- that seems to fit perfectly!"

It feels a little weird, having "you complained" right next to "Haruhi retorted"?

Oh, man.  Didn't see that--  The easy solution is to shift 'You complained' to the start of the sentence.  It's still double speech indicators, but that helps a little.  I think. <_<;

Eheh.  Kanae's drawings and the reactions to them are golden.

Yay~!  I was afraid of it being over-the-top. :D

"Subordinate" is a fine word, but you can consider "subspaces" instead if you like.

"There are also volumes within the manifold that are empty, allowing the continued evolution of the Calabi-Yau manifold into different shapes.  While all of these spaces and potential spaces exist in a single contained function -- a 'reality' -- this present awareness and existence is an immeasurably insignificant fraction of all that potential and probability."

Optional: volumes -> hypervolumes, function -> metric?  (function doesn't really make sense there), all that potential and probability -> all possible configurations (combinations)?

Hypervolumes works.  Not sure about functions.  As an armchair physicist who follows the discipline primarily for an understanding of stellar phenomena, let me apologize in advance for what's about to happen.  Namely, "I can't science." 

Here, 'function' is just the word to encapsulate whatever the highest 'known' order facet of reality is.  I'm kind of vague on it because I'm not very specific--  If we say our reality is (effectively) a shadow cast by higher-order objects in dimensions we can't properly percieve, that object is the Calabi-Yau manifold.  I suppose it could be 'object,' too, but I wanted to hilight how alien the Combine universe was by giving it (to Yuki) an unrecognizable shape.

Suggestions?

Okay, you have "meta" in a lot of places, so maybe replacing it before is unwarranted.  We might have to talk about what you mean by "hyper-function" (and "function" before) for me to relate what you're saying to jargon I'm more familiar with.

Hm, I guess you can use analog that way.  I'd always thought analogue and analog were different, but dictionary says otherwise.  Learn something new.

Damn you, Common Usage?  Many a great word has become less because of constant improper use. :\

And, yeah, 'hyper-function' and 'function' are supposed to be the relative forms of the realities.

Is it "well-behaved"?

I believe so; I'm pretty bad about that.  Changed all three instances in this chapter.

Okay--  Sorry again for the delay in replying, and thanks for the feedback. :D

[Brian]

I guess the salient portion of my criticism is that I read a certain amount of parody out of the scene, exhibiting some justified disdain for people who have the tremendous bad taste to ship Kyon and Koizumi in ways that defy any sense of character logic. (And, by extension, to people who peddle spectacularly poorly written yaoi/yuri in general.) Which is all well and good, but (based on how I'm reading it) some of this criticism might be sticking to Kanae (particularly since she's shipping people she knows firsthand, not fictional characters), producing a negative impression of the character that Brian might not have intended. I don't know for certain if other people are seeing it that way.

Everything else I've said around the topic is probably just bluster.

Eh -- I'll come back to this, but don't sell yourself so short.  I agree that the whole thing does run the risk of making Kanae look very shallow, and that's something I want to avoid.

[Brian]

Hi guys, new at Soul Riders from the TV Tropes forum.  On to the feedback!

Hooray--  Welcome~!  Sorry for the delay in responding. :3

Ignoring them and their conversation, Mikuru and Tsuruya were engaged in giggling and pretending not to read further, respectively.

Maybe switch the order that the names are listed.

Oops!  Fixed. :)

She frowned, opening up her design par,"

Her what?

That should have been 'pad.' >.>;;

The Combine perforate their Chorus for transfer of matter/energy and probability -- spin and string -- through this space.

So matter/energy is spin, and probability is string?  It seems like they were used the other way around previously, e.g. "Kuyou observed, senses filtering in every vibration in the surrounding corona of atoms: the merest, faintest wisps of oxygen, hydrogen, other trace strings spinning in known chords and notes."  I'll have to go over it again.

Matter/energy and probability are all 'spin and string.'  Really, the term should effectively mean, 'The stuff that reality is made of.'  Not sure if I should clarify that, or make it more vague -- or just leave it as is.

Hm.

Just saying "Maybe" would be a first for Yuki.  She usually goes with "Possibly" instead.  I'm not sure if that's just an oversight or if you want to show her moving a little away from her Spock Speak.

Alrighty--  Possibly it is.

I really don't want to go through it with this one.

I'm not quite sure what this means.  He doesn't want to go through dealing with feeling bad about damaging another reality?  It's not very clear.

Revised!

Kyon looked about to retort something, but bit his tongue.  A moment later he allowed, "I don't like to fight, but I know what you mean.  It was hard enough thinking I might have destroyed that other reality in December ... so every time Yuki mentions that it's still around I feel a little better--  I really don't want to have to destroy a universe, if I managed to avoid it once before."

The chapter itself had me cracking up quite a bit.  The sketchbooks were hilarious, especially Kyon's reaction to everyone apparently knowing how big his junk is and discussing it in front of him.  I suspect we're in for a mass Touhou cosplay and Haruhi telling her friends that she's in lesbian with Kanae.

Well, that joke specifically got pulled for being a liiiiittle too over the top. XD

But I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Are you sure that the sword can't be named after the one from the Song of Roland?  I think that's a fine name for a sword, and we could maybe get away with adding the Creator Cameo to the tropes page. :)

Someone already spotted the Creator Cameo. ;D

And I think this suffices -- I don't need anything more blatant than this. ^_^;;  I think I wouldn't have done it if I didn't vaguely recall the suggestion being tossed out in the Troper thread. :p

Thanks again for taking the time to comment. ^_^

[Halbarad]

Actually, Kanae being rather shallow would fit her background quite well. For X number of years, she's never interacted with the same group of people for more than a few weeks at a time, to the point where sliding off after a certain period of time becomes a habit. Given that she's focused on Kyon in a form of hero-worship, she would be fairly shallow in dealing with anyone else; why bother to get to know other people when at most she's going to lose all contact with them forever in a matter of days? I'd say that she doesn't even know Kyon that well, despite the fact that she practically worships the ground he walks on; all she knows about him is that he's always willing to help her, and a lot of what she's done for him has been out of gratitude for that, not even so much out of friendship.

Glossing over personalities for her is born from habit (and to a degree, necessity, since constantly being ripped away from friends would be that much more traumatic than what she's already been through). It's going to take a lot of work for her to see pretty much anyone as more than just a person-shaped blob, since opening up to people, or spending any kind of significant time with them, has not been a luxury she's had in a very long time.

[Brian]

Whew -- more replies. @_@

Hiko-san isn't interested in Dungeons, Dragons or roleplaying in general, i suspect, so this line:

The stories also said that Kowa-Keigo-Kyon had summoned a demonic assistant composed of fire from the depths of the plane of yami.

feels a bit out of place, namely the "plane of yami". First of all, it would be Yomi, if i remember correctly, and second "plane" is a term i never heard used outside of roleplaying in this sense.

Maybe he's got an interest in European medieval cosmology. It happens.

Hiko: "I'll have you know -- while I may be a yakuza accountant/investigator by day ... by night, I am a seventh level druid!"
Daitokuji: "Uh, yeah--  The GM's incarcerated for gun-running.  Also, you missed the last session, and Goro's rogue used you as a meat shield against some wights."
Hiko: D:
Daitokuji: "Reroll from level one."
Hiko: ._.

Actually, even though that's where the term gets the most use, I'm sure it's elsewhere.  Uh....

...can't recall.  I don't personally think it's a problem, but maybe that's a flaw of me being so immersed in gamer lore.

Try "dephts of hell" or "depths of Hades" if you want to go fancy (except that i think Hades was actually cold. Ok, scratch Hades).

How about: "The stories _also_ said that Kowa-Keigo Kyon had summoned a demonic assistant composed of fire from some hellish netherworld."

Also, thanks for the feedback, as always. ;)

[Brian]

I know what that means: Offscreen Moment Of Awesome :(

Author successfully evades: "What kind of physical arrangement do they even HAVE for that, anyway?!"

(Though, this time around, with Nonoko there....)

"clubroom" instead of "classroom".

Oops!

It's probably nothing but I can't help but wonder about the sitting arrangement. If Kanae, Tsuruya and Mikuru are sitting in a row, how is possible that Yuki and Koizumi are sitting at the same table with a chessboard between them? It should be too uncomfortable if they are sitting across the long side of the table. Perhaps one of them sat at the head of the table and the other at the side with the chessboard placed diagonally near to the corner of the table or maybe Yuki and Koizumi are using that small round table where Yuki leaves the books that she is currently reading.

Hmm.  I've been going with the idea that four people could sit to one side of the table.  Giving it a maximum capacity of 10--  Unless Haruhi moves her desk up to the table again.  Generally, she's been trying to spend more time at the table with the brigade than at her own desk.

So, Tsuruya, Kanae, Mikuru, Koizumi, with Yuki on the opposite side of the table and three free seats at her side.  No good?

Kyon is a lot more relaxed around Ryouko. That's nice. :)

Kyon: "I just can't hold a grudge."

"And the sword?" Haruhi pressed. "Named after a legendary magical blade, right? Like, from some ancient legend – a weapon from the battle of Troy, and featured in the 'Song of Roland'!"

"Somehow, that particular name felt overused," Kyon said, shaking his head.

xD

:D

Did Tsuruya suggest "Kusanagi"? It makes a lot of sense considering her upbringing.

Yes she did. :)

*rises eyebrows* I didn't expect that, but it makes a lot of sense in Haruhi's case. Similar reaction to Kuyou's "What is 'innocent'?"

Glad those worked. :)

I wonder if there will be a reaction to the rumors of the engagement from the girls who thought of trying to confess to Kyon.

Possibly, but I don't see any of the girls at the school being willing to raise a ruckus with Tsuruya over it.

Tsuruya: "He's mine, nyoro~!  Back off, or I'll laughs at you~!  >:3"

I love the scene at the end with Kyon and his family.

I think I'll need to reread the explanation about the Combine and the mechanics of realities more carefully before making a comment on it.

Good to know that the world of the fourth novel is still around. If there is ever a need for a shorthand name for K:BDH!world and The Disappearance!world I suggest Earth' (Earth Prime) and Earth? (Earth Double Prime) respectively, as a shoutout to the TV series "Sliders".

Glad those things work; I'll keep the shoutout in mind, too. :D

Mixed feelings about Slider!Kuyou (the "Other") Posthumous Character status.

Yeah ... the other Kuyou was actually glad to take the exit she saw.  The Combine are [not nice people].

Kind of potential mood whiplash -- there was some feedback elsewhere about the Brigade seeming to be indifferent to the damage done to the Combine universe and the (potentially) innocent lives there.  This was to address that and expand on the fate of other!Kuyou more definitively.

Thanks for the feedback. :D

[Muphrid]

"I know how that can go -- but I still have to make a late appointment tonight with my boss." he offered sympathetically.  "Hey, talk about it over dinner?  I still have a little bit of time before I have to meet with him."

Does this work better?

I think that works.

Hmm.  I plan to touch on this more in later chapters, but it won't do any good if this comes across as implausible or Idiot Ball usage.  I was trying for the angle of, "Well, this guy's a stranger I'll never see again, so what will it hurt to say it all?" -- should I maybe emphasise this more from Hiko's PoV?

(Also, I may change that name. :x)

It could just be a knack he has--coming off as trustworthy and acting as a confidante to strangers, making him an asset in that way.

...so, though it may be unusual, Hiko can lampshade it as something even he doesn't understand, but from experience, he knows it works, and that Kunikida spills to him isn't a surprise.

Hypervolumes works.  Not sure about functions.  As an armchair physicist who follows the discipline primarily for an understanding of stellar phenomena, let me apologize in advance for what's about to happen.  Namely, "I can't science."

Here, 'function' is just the word to encapsulate whatever the highest 'known' order facet of reality is.  I'm kind of vague on it because I'm not very specific--  If we say our reality is (effectively) a shadow cast by higher-order objects in dimensions we can't properly percieve, that object is the Calabi-Yau manifold.  I suppose it could be 'object,' too, but I wanted to hilight how alien the Combine universe was by giving it (to Yuki) an unrecognizable shape.

Suggestions?

So, I think the idea is that the Combine hail from a different manifold, and you used "function" to emphasize this is different?

After doing some refresher reading on string theory, let me see if I understand what's basically going on.  I did read Brian Greene's book years ago, so this isn't all new to me, but it's still a bit difficult to digest.  I think what you're going for is stuff about brane cosmology, so I think it can be seen as follows:

Imagine a narrow rectangular tube with some number of wires running down its length.  Our wires are perfectly one-dimensional, but the tube is three-dimensional.  Strings have their endpoints on wires, and either they connect two separate wires or they reside entirely on the same wire.  The movements of wires relative to each other stretch or compress strings that connect them, and so on.

The analogy, then, is that the (edit: cross-section of the) rectangular tube represents the Calabi-Yau manifold, except in this example it has one long dimension and only two compact ones instead of four long dimensions (3 space, 1 time) and 6 compact ones (I'm not even going to pretend to know how the 11th dimension works).  The wires are universes, and the collision of wires (or branes) could cause a big bang and create another universe or something.

So I think the Combine aren't from our Calabi Yau manifold multiverse but from a different manifold entirely?

Granted, I am no expert on string theory, and you should take whatever fits or makes sense with what you have.

[Arakawa]

Actually, Kanae being rather shallow would fit her background quite well. For X number of years, she's never interacted with the same group of people for more than a few weeks at a time, to the point where sliding off after a certain period of time becomes a habit. Given that she's focused on Kyon in a form of hero-worship, she would be fairly shallow in dealing with anyone else; why bother to get to know other people when at most she's going to lose all contact with them forever in a matter of days? &c &c

Right, that's a valid possible characterization. But if we're going that route intentionally, there's probably better ways to establish traits like that than by focusing on Kanae's moe exterior for K*500 chapters, and then ripping the exterior away by showing how she spends her time fantasizing about Brigade members. Or at least someone in the Brigade could notice -- maybe Brian was planning to go in this direction with further chapters, which would mitigate the negative aspects of the scene somewhat -- that this isn't just a cute perversion, but a symptom of issues that she might honestly need the other members' sympathy and understanding to resolve. (As opposed to just revulsion on the part of Kyon, and a lighthearted slap on the wrist.)

At least that's the impression I get if I try to factor this interpretation into what I remember of the story so far.

[Halbarad]

This being a part of Kanae's personality isn't really something that's been untelegraphed in prior chapters; her first 'breakdown' with Haruhi confronting her about how long she's been jumping is a pretty major hint (back in Chapter 22 - Homecoming (Take Two)). I think if anything, this is just serving to highlight how far the problem goes; the fact that Kanae is afraid/unable to connect with other people isn't really new, but this incident serves to show just how large an issue it is for her - or that it's so ingrained that she doesn't even stop to think about it anymore.

[thepanda]

Yomi → よみ:

陰府 [よみ] /(gikun) (n) path to the netherworld (underworld)/Hades/Hell/
黄泉 [よみ] /(n) (1) Hades/hell/underworld/
読み [よみ] /(n) reading/(P)/

Why is "reading" even in that list? O_O

Because you entered simply 'よみ' as the reading, and that's a valid definition. 'よみ' (also written as 読み) is one form of the verb '読む', which means 'to read'; you usually see this referring to on-yomi or kun-yomi, which are the Chinese and Japanese readings for kanji (respectively).

... Yomiko Readman. Doh! *facepalm*

[Brian]

*crawls late and bleary-eyed into the thread*

Disclaimer: may overlap with other people's commentary. Consists mostly of two possibly irrelevant cents on the sketchbook scene.

EDIT: instances of 'brain bleach' replaced with 'brain Windex'. It has come to my attention that 'brain bleach' is a term that generally applies to really nauseatingly horror-inducing stuff, which is not the case here.

Generally, you apply brain bleach after high octane nightmare/nausea fuel or squick.

Something like Melancholy Princess -- THAT is cause for brain bleach (if you're not familiar with this work -- do not seek to become so, unless NTR is your thing.  Was dared to read it -- so ... much ... hate...).

...gonna be out in the hall throwing up about ... something else for a few minutes.

*bleah*

Anyway.  Back to regularly scheduled (and very late) responses:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Careful release of information, both true and false, can be a powerful tool in maneuvering the actions of others, both friend and foe.

Not sure if maneuver works when used like this in roughly the same sense as manipulate.  (Certainly haven't ever seen it used like this.) Manipulate does seem a bit off, though -- too weaselly, but then again the quote is explaining a weaselly concept. Manage could work, but it also sounds a bit corporate. (I notice unlike Tadamichi's strategy quotes it's credited as Author Unknown. I might be able to suggest something if I knew who the author was. My possibly-180-degrees-off-the-mark guess would be Koizumi.)

It does--  Social or political manuevering.  Also:

[spoiler]Your guess is correct.

Before Tsuruya could press on the issue, she pulled one of her sketchbooks out, checking which one it was quickly.

... "furtively checking which one it was." (Or just "quickly checking which one it was.")?
... "furtively glancing inside to check which one it was."
... "giving a furtive glance inside to check which one it was."

I'll go with the first one -- that scans nicely. :)

brain Windex:

I think it's just mild squick?

The last one unfortunately reminded me of a much dumber joke in Tea of Sagittarius, which also centered around Haruhi's estimate of Kyon's junk.

I ... don't recall that.  There must have been more translating done.  Maybe I'll take another look at it.

And the crowning prize of brain Windex is:

[...]

It's not so much the detail of the act, it's the fact that I wind up contemplating the total lack of characterization this sort of setup implies for Kanae's doujin. It made Kanae seem a bit creepy to me, drawing hentai doujin in which she looks at people she interacts with on a daily basis that way. Realistically a person who did something like that wouldn't get off so easily.

Maybe that could be lessened with another layer of indirection, where she's drawing something like a Trope-tan hentai and it becomes obvious / is heavily implied that the couple are a conscious or unconscious proxy for Kyon and Koizumi?

Though not sure if Trope-tan has enough elements that have been introduced to pull something like that off without an awkward exposition dump about Trope-tan. The contrivances necessary might even result in an implied plot line that's actually subtly kinky and/or romantic rather than just bile-inducing, which would nullify some of the trolling aspect of this scene.

Another, less difficult change, would be just giving some detail that implies that this is Kanae's (best effort at) a romantic yaoi rather than a badly-characterized ecchi one. Which would probably fix the issue of Kanae coming across as creepy through this SOS Brigade yaoi.

Hmm.

Actually, Kanae being rather shallow would fit her background quite well. For X number of years, she's never interacted with the same group of people for more than a few weeks at a time, to the point where sliding off after a certain period of time becomes a habit. Given that she's focused on Kyon in a form of hero-worship, she would be fairly shallow in dealing with anyone else; why bother to get to know other people when at most she's going to lose all contact with them forever in a matter of days? I'd say that she doesn't even know Kyon that well, despite the fact that she practically worships the ground he walks on; all she knows about him is that he's always willing to help her, and a lot of what she's done for him has been out of gratitude for that, not even so much out of friendship.

Glossing over personalities for her is born from habit (and to a degree, necessity, since constantly being ripped away from friends would be that much more traumatic than what she's already been through). It's going to take a lot of work for her to see pretty much anyone as more than just a person-shaped blob, since opening up to people, or spending any kind of significant time with them, has not been a luxury she's had in a very long time.

I think the solution may be a compromise between these two; I agree that Arakawa pointed out it does make Kanae look shallow and less likable.  But Hal makes a good point, too.  I think if I shift it as per Arakawa's suggestion so that they're (for example) characters of various anime she's watched that just happen to look _unreasonably like_ Kyon/Koizumi, then that mitigates some of it.  And instead of being totally PWP, it's a thinly veiled proxy (which is not ... a whole lot better).

Haruhi's reaction also needs to be modified to be less supportive of the 'PWP is okay' aspect, since it otherwise comes across as her thinking the approach is without flaws.  That also makes the one that Haruhi found (that's actually Kanae/Kyon/Haruhi) something she'll see as a step up, since it's Kanae trying to do something that's got a romantic basis on the two people in the Brigade she's closest to.  So Haruhi can praise the one and restrain herself from more because of the fear of Kanae running away again.

This also gives Haruhi something specific to work on in recognizing what kinds of issues Kanae has been avoiding (because that's the nature of her game).  Does this sound workable?

Meh, it's just a funny scene. Given the subject matter, needing to Windex your brain a bit afterwards might be inevitable.

Somewhat.  You're right that I also wanted to bring in parodies of the general fujoshi-vision take on fanfiction in general, and Kyon/Koizumi shippers specifically.  Of course, invoking that also brings with it the risk of pinning that negative image on Kanae.  Giving her a more balanced take where her approach is a result of her lack of ability to form real bonds (in previous worlds) and something she wants to work on sounds like a good idea to me.

resonating at the edges of Koizumi's powers to detect.

"... resonating almost beyond the edge of Koizumi's power to detect it." /
"... resonating just at the edges of Koizumi's powers to detect it."

I'm not sure about the 'it' at the end -- I don't think that's needed.  I'll go with the first one, though.

Kuyou gave a short nod. "They destroy the space between spaces," she answered.

*snort*

Of course!

Why didn't I realize it earlier!

Spoiler: ShowHide

Kuyou is George Lucas in disguise!

I didn't remember that line from the movie.  I guess that popularized it, but it's a much older term than that. >_>[/spoiler]

Alright--  Thanks for the feedback, and sorry about the unintended squick.

I seem to be really good at that. >_<

[Brian]

Just a little thing:

Spoiler: ShowHide

[...]

Ryouko seems to come back to Kyon's coat pocket without apparent reason.

Gah!  Now that's a gaffe. >.>  She'll move once and stay there. <_<;;

[Brian]

[...]  I was trying for the angle of, "Well, this guy's a stranger I'll never see again, so what will it hurt to say it all?" -- should I maybe emphasise this more from Hiko's PoV?

(Also, I may change that name. :x)

It could just be a knack he has--coming off as trustworthy and acting as a confidante to strangers, making him an asset in that way.

...so, though it may be unusual, Hiko can lampshade it as something even he doesn't understand, but from experience, he knows it works, and that Kunikida spills to him isn't a surprise.

That makes sense; I'll revise that once I get home from work.

Hiko: "My stats are primarily in the social pool~!"
Daitokuji: "Obviously not in appearance."
Hiko: "...shut up and go back to jail."

So, I think the idea is that the Combine hail from a different manifold, and you used "function" to emphasize this is different?

After doing some refresher reading on string theory, let me see if I understand what's basically going on.  I did read Brian Greene's book years ago, so this isn't all new to me, but it's still a bit difficult to digest.  I think what you're going for is stuff about brane cosmology, so I think it can be seen as follows:

Imagine a narrow rectangular tube with some number of wires running down its length.  Our wires are perfectly one-dimensional, but the tube is three-dimensional.  Strings have their endpoints on wires, and either they connect two separate wires or they reside entirely on the same wire.  The movements of wires relative to each other stretch or compress strings that connect them, and so on.

The analogy, then, is that the (edit: cross-section of the) rectangular tube represents the Calabi-Yau manifold, except in this example it has one long dimension and only two compact ones instead of four long dimensions (3 space, 1 time) and 6 compact ones (I'm not even going to pretend to know how the 11th dimension works).  The wires are universes, and the collision of wires (or branes) could cause a big bang and create another universe or something.

So I think the Combine aren't from our Calabi Yau manifold multiverse but from a different manifold entirely?

Granted, I am no expert on string theory, and you should take whatever fits or makes sense with what you have.

That's exactly what I'm trying to go for.  Ie., if the baseline world of K:BDH takes place in one 'metaverse,' the Disappearance reality is foreign, but also exists within the same superstructure.  The Combine forces are from an even more removed reality.

(Also, the fact that they use Xen as a transport medium isn't doing their reality many favors, but that's actually canon for the HL universe, even if they wisely tend to shy away from anything approaching real science.)