What is Zimmy worried about?

[drmemory]

I was re-reading the last couple of months, mainly looking for Kat/Jerrek interactions, and got sidetracked by the Zimmy stuff.

Specifically, here, Annie tells her that the court wants to absorb her power and use it to leave the planet.  Her reaction is a bit odd, even for Zimmy - she says "I got much worse things to worry about than that!".  Everyone got sidetracked trying to figure out how much of what we saw was real, due to the sudden personality shifts and some odd visual effects, but I don't really remember ever talking about what the heck Zimmy meant by this.

What could be worse for Zimmy than having her power stolen by the court?  She's obviously got worse stuff in mind!

The only specific concern she aired was that she believes Kat is going to kill her, using Omega, but I'm not entirely sure that's it.  If nothing else, I'd think having all of her power sucked out might well kill her, and frankly, I'm not sure death is what she fears.

Speaking of impending doom there is also what Zimmy said here to worry about.  What could she do that would threaten the whole court?  Gamma and Zimmy both seem to think they know what the court plans to do and Zimmy says "It's going to happen sooner or later. And when it does... they aren't going to like what I'll do...".  Eep?

Zimmy is wrong about Kat's current intentions but that isn't really what she's talking about in any of this - she's worried about what Kat will do later on, after taking over Omega.  It isn't at all clear that this is the same worry as the one about what the court will do.

So... what is Zimmy worried about?

[blahzor]

The only things zimmy has worried about is losing Gamma and death via Kat

[philman]

One of Zimmy's prime characteristics is extreme paranoia and mistrust of pretty much everyone (which unfortunately for her, seems to be often justified). I don't know if it is any one specific thing that she is scared of, just the many many things that could happen to her, and that the only thing preventing that is what she could in turn do to everyone else

[blahzor]

May 8, 2023 9:05:00 GMT philman said:

One of Zimmy's prime characteristics is extreme paranoia and mistrust of pretty much everyone (which unfortunately for her, seems to be often justified). I don't know if it is any one specific thing that she is scared of, just the many many things that could happen to her, and that the only thing preventing that is what she could in turn do to everyone else

There is one thing. Kat, she even admitted it in the pink hair/Annie coma thing chapter and she helped anyone

[drmemory]

Ok, maybe she's just paranoid in general? I guess... It sounded more specific to me though. Like she has a list of specific concerns rather than a general feeling of unease.

The only concerns I can remember Zimmy ever stating are:


1. Being separated from Gamma (either due to something happening to Gamma or to the court moving one of them away)
2. Kat (both in general and, more recently, as a possible Zimmy-killer)
3. The court demanding payback (probably for keeping Gamma safe)

Zimmy actually came to the court because the court said they'd keep Gamma safe, right? She's also said she cares about nothing else. Gamma being sent away from her or her being sent away from Gamma would have the same effect - no more dampening effect for her uncontrolled powers! Aside from that, they clearly love each other. I neither know nor care if there is a romantic aspect to this - it doesn't matter in the least. So separating them would be bad. But I don't think that's what Zimmy is worried about the court doing right now.

Number 2 is just the latest episode of "I'm afraid of Kat". At least we finally know why! Well we knew part of it - she could see Kat's mecha-goddess form even when nobody else had seen it yet. But the possible murderess angle is new and a lot more specific.

Number 3 is interesting. I feel like there has been some foreshadowing of this but can't put my finger on it.

Another angle is why Zimmy would care if the court wants to take her energy. I would think she'd be pretty happy to not be an uncontrolled ether absorber that causes uncontrollable effects any more! So either she doesn't think it'll work or she doesn't think that's what will happen when they suck her energy into the star ocean. If you think of Zimmy as resembling a power station, an analogy Jones once made, then if they suck out her power it'll probably just start recharging again. Maybe it'll hurt? No idea. In any case it doesn't seem like a fatal thing nor an irreversible one. If anything it might give her a little break from the insanity.

Maybe she expects the court to do something even worse, like take her captive and wire her into a machine as a living battery. Now THAT would be worth getting upset about. She seems so worried - maybe it's something like that?

[drmemory]

Addendum - I've always been worried about what would happen to Coyote if the court succeeded in stealing all of his ether. Would there be anything left? But I don't think that would be the same for Zimmy - she seems fundamentally human. As in, she has a definite physical form. Coyote may not, if he was really created by the thoughts of man! His big secret...

Anyway, I don't think "ceasing to exist because the court siphoned her energy" is one of Zimmy's concerns.

[imaginaryfriend]

Sorta posted this wildspec already in a brief form, but I think Kat's power(s) is/are naturally antagonistic to Zeta's powers/life such as they are. Kat can look at things and visualize how they work, draw inspiration from organisms and produce her own designs that replicate their function using a whole other media. Ol' Zim-Zims operates in dreams and memories and can maybe aim herself at problems but suffers from a lack of control. Kat and Zeta have polar opposite concepts of reality. Zeta doesn't like Kat looking at her through the Toc(s) and in fact her first words in the comic were a complaint about Kat looking at her in person. Omega lets people look through the layers of reality.  That's why I believe Kat looking at Zeta via Omega will rip her apart.

By the way, an ancient wildspec of someone else was that the characters Zeta and Gamma draw inspiration from the functions of the same name.

[Gemminie]

Here are my thoughts about this, because I was thinking about it too, given my propensity to overanalyze every page.

The question is what Zimmy's more worried about than the Court coming to use or drain her power. She could mean the fact that Kat's going to kill her – but it's written in such a way that she seems to learn that later in the conversation, perhaps by looking into the future. At the point where she says she's got worse things to worry about, it doesn't seem that she's learned that yet.

I'm fairly sure that the only thing Zimmy cares about in the world is Gamma. Something happening to Gamma is probably the thing she's worried about, but what exactly?

First of all, we know that the Court changed the star ocean's parameters to focus on something other than Loup. We've been assuming it's Zimmy, but what if it's Gamma? Still, that doesn't really read right. If you're worried about the bad guys coming to get your girlfriend, and somebody tells you that the bad guys are coming to get you, which is a complete surprise to you, the response you'd give would likely not be much like what Zimmy says. It would be something like "It's not me they're coming for," or "Why would they come after me?" Zimmy's focus would be on the absurdity of it being her they're coming after instead of Gamma, not on the absurdity of trying to drain her power.

So then there are other worries about Gamma. First, there's the one that's probably bothered her for years, which is that Gamma's ruining her health by not getting enough sleep, staying awake all the time to keep Zimmy from going out of control. Sooner or later Gamma has to get some sleep, and when she does, who knows what's going to happen with Zimmy's dark whateverness? This has probably happened many times, and each time it's been a close call. Only occasionally do we see what happens. Zimmy's probably worried that when this happens, something will happen to Gamma. But is that the "worse things?"

There's also the future. Zimmy's quite likely also worried that in a future after the Court has left for their new planet, possibly killing Zimmy or leaving her insane in the process, Gamma will be left alone in a crumbling infrastructure with no way to make her way in the world. It's the most mundane of answers, but that could be it.