[368]You should take him up on his offer

That is true.

Well, Reynardine cannot lie. Maybe it has to do with that?

Okay, maybe not. 'Specially since he only can't lie to Annie. I think.

A lier is less dangerous, because you can confidently disregard what he says. But if can trust a person to always tell the truth, then what he says has worth. But therein lies the opportunity for deception: selective misleading truths can seem to imply one thing, when the opposite is true. But because the sayer never lies, his words not ignored.

It's a rather common theme in literature. Shakespeare's Macbeth jumps out at me as a prime example.

PS. With this revelation, Coyote is my new favorite character. Just cause he's such a strong archetype.

All i see is them having a conversation. Dont see any confidance or trust bridges being set up in that way. Just Annie talking to Jones and getting to know her and more about her own queries.

Hmmm....I noticed how Jones specificly asked about just how Coyote asked Annie to meet him. And how she pauses [to consider it] and then advises Annie to go ahead. Plus she's subtlely warned Annie on Coyote's nature. I Quite like this lady.

Lying isnt the purest/best technique a tricker/con has. Its manipulation of the truth itself [not changing it, but simply using it to ones advantage], choice words [choosing what truth to reveal and what not to] and letting people make their own assumptions about what you reveal thats the purest form.

The battle of words and thoughts can be compared to a physical battle. Lies are crude like brute force and sheer muscle power. Careful handling of the truth is like knowing where the weak spots in the body are [no matter how muscle bound someone is, these spots are still vurnerable] and just how to twist a limb or joint in such a way that it snaps bones, tears muscles, dislocates joints and ruptures tendens. You can be physically very weak [unable to lie, or not lie by choice] but by following the latter you will reek havoc upon the supposed strong.

Hmm i see now. Even Annie telling her that coyote siad not to trust the people at the court [with a raised eyebrow] might be her testing jones further in terms of how much she can trust the woman.

"Its the smiles brigade"

Tom really comes up with the most hilarious of comments. Jones and Annie walking along together are the epitome of a smile brigades.

I think that Coyote has a point about the people at Gunnerkrigg (at least, the faculty and staff); there seems to be something going on under the school's facade (what regular school keeps holding pens for demon-possessed Rogat Orjaks, has a wing inhabited by eccentric robots, and has teachers who know magic or are trained dragon-fighters?). And I doubt that it's trustworthy; all that secrecy is sign enough of that.

What surprised me most was Jones advising Annie to meet with Coyote. Not just because she's aware that he's dangerous (and all the more dangerous, because he doesn't deal in lies), but also because the meeting is evidently to take place in Gillitie Wood, which is off-bounds for students. When one of the leading authority figures suggests that you should break the rules, there's something going on here.... (Though, after reading the Annie-Eglamore scene in Chapter Nine, I have the suspicion that at Gunnerkrigg, you don't get in trouble for breaking the rules. You get in trouble for getting caught.)

Well, this is how I see it. GC has it's own agenda, the people working on it have weird powers, cells, demons, and whatever; they look sometimes more like a secret organization than anything else.

On the other hand, Annie also keeps her secrets from the Court, like that it was her who sent Robot to the forest, or about Rey at first... so she also has her "own agenda".

Now, if I tell you that in order to establish trust you need not to have secrets from the other, neither Annie nor the Court can completely "trust" each other (since Court and Annie have secrets not willing to share just yet). We can agree that this is "true".

That doesn't mean that people in the Court have evil intentions towards Annie or anything, simply that she's still a girl, a student, and they're not going to let her in the secrets just yet.

The power of the trickster lays on this, to manipulate something that it's true (they're not 100% honest with each other, Annie and the Court) to create the desired perception on the part you're trying to manipulate (make her think that the Court doesn't have her best interest at hearth).

That's where Jones advice comes in; she says that what Coyote says it's true (we are not telling you everything, and probably you don't tell us everything either), but be carefull on the conclusions you get from that piece of information.

...and those two are in the battle of neutral faces...jeez

Have we considered how important an invitation to the Forest could be? Perhaps it isn't extended to just anyone. An invitation implies 'we would like to have you here', not 'we don't want you here', and obviously also 'you will be our guest, no harm will come to you'. So she will probably be safe if she goes to the Forest. And if by chance she *does* come to harm, the Court can probably use this fact against the Forest, since Annie told Jones and Jones would probably relay this to her boss.

Here on Brazil we've got a saying that goes like "the worst liar is the one who only tells the truth" that pretty much sums what Jones said. Selectively telling the truth to mislead people into wrong conclusions is one powerful tool, even more so than outright lying.

I think that Coyote's invitation is one charged with diplomatic compromise. Despite the joke-y tone, he probably knows the consequences of causing Annie some kind of harm. On the other hand, we don't know if Ysen realizes those consequences. And, to tell the truth, if he cares about them.

While I agree, I don't think manipulating Ysen into harming her is outside of his scope.

Of ysengrin tries to act funny, and iam sure he aint gonna be happy about thing meeting, Coyote is going to be spending a fortune in pillars.

Coyote see's potential in Annie, he knows her origins. And after their meeting, he knows her mettle and persona. He also knows Reynardine has a soft spot for her.

She'll be of much use to him if she allows.

HELL YEAH, KIDS! IT'S FIELD-TRIP TIME!!!

Party at Coyote's woods, drinks are on the house.

Knowing what I do about Coyote, he'd probably spike the punch...