[308] Story Discussion - I can't wait!

And he's talking with Annie's voice. She must have spent free time teaching him.

EDIT: Is Annie skipping, or has her stamina improved since chapter 12?

Running around barefoot will get your feet dirty quickly.

Annie was barefoot and without makeup in all the hospital flashbacks, and now she's running around the school that way. Of course, she took off the makeup and shoes at the end of last chapter, after everyone but Rey had left. Is Annie just dressing more casually, or is her only wearing makeup around other humans indicative of something? (This could be a problem for the "eye-shadow as protection from the evil eye" theory.)

If Gunnerkrigg is like Good Hope, does that mean Good Hope also has a creepy forest at its back doorstep?

Aha! Shadow 2 can talk! ;D I love how happy Annie looks--and so much more relaxed than when we first met her when she was polite and restrained. Yey for friendship In fact there are so many things I love about this page. The art alone is beautiful.

Annie's outfit looks so much like a hospital gown that, for a moment, I thought this was a flashback.

It's apparently very early in the morning (particularly judging from the first panel), so that's probably why Annie's barefoot and not wearing make-up (unless she gave up the latter during the summer holidays).

Also, evidently Shadow2 can talk without the help of Kat's instruments now.

I wondered at first whether the way that Annie's behaving on this page, so different from her regular style (running about barefoot, without make-up, in a very excited fashion) was a sign that she'd undergone some dramatic change during the course of the summer (since she was still acting in her usual manner in Chapter Fourteen). But as I thought about it more, I came to the conclusion that this isn't intended as being a typical day for her at Gunnerkrigg during the summer holidays, but a specific moment: the day that Kat's due back at school.

The evidence from Annie's words on this page is that this is the day that Kat's supposed to return (it would also be the logical place to start the story). The first panel also indicates, from the lighting in the sky, that it's early morning with the sun coming up. The logical conclusion to be drawn from that is that Annie's so elated over this being the day of her best friend's return that for once, she's gone out of her room without putting on her shoes, getting properly dressed, etc. (The same kind of phenomenon as that traditionally shown by children on Christmas morning.)

Indeed, I doubt that Annie would have lost that much of her usual calmness and formality over the summer; if anything, given what her summer must have been like, it would have been more likely to return than erode. Her friendship with Kat (the first friendship that she'd formed with a child her own age, where before, all her friendships were with "mythical creatures" like the Guides) seems to have been the main cause for her loosening up; since she'd spent the summer at Gunnerkrigg with only Shadow2, Robot, and Reynardine for company (so far as we know), all of whom are also non-humans, the humanizing factor that Kat is presumably responsible for would have been more likely to recede.

My suspicion is that, after Kat's return and the big reunion, Annie's behavior will quickly revert to normal, and the make-up and more formal attire will return. (And I also suspect that she was regularly wearing them during the summer holidays. It's the nature of this particular day, I believe, that makes it the exception.)

Ann looks a little out of character in today's page. I can't help but wonder...if we're seeing something from the past.

Then again, maybe she's just a bit giddy after having not seen Kat for months. Even the stoic types can be a little hyper at times, and she IS a kid after all.

Shadow2 only needed that machine to learn words. Once he learned them, he's capable of speaking them on his own and rearranging them to form new sentences.

Childish things aren't really encouraged in hospitals, you know. Disturbs the patients' rest and annoys the doctors and nurses and whatnots.

When does a lie become the truth, eh?

They aren't, indeed, but that didn't stop Annie from using her lockpicks. Annie's disregard for authoritative figures is noteworthy.

in my opinion, annie's just an introvert. when there are people around she's more subdued, when there are lots of people and/or adults it's more pronounced than when it's just her and rey or kat or shadow2. that and she feels more comfortable at the court now.

personally, i'm pretty serious when anyone else is there to see me but the minute i'm home alone i act like a five year old.