[254] Story Discussion - Aly, want to be a bird?

[Aspen d'Grey]

Um, yeah. Shoulda payed jsut a BIT more attention to that one.

Shoots down the suicide fairies, and I'm glad of that. Didnt really like that idea. I sitll think that they DONT become 'students' like Kat or Annie or the others, they go to their own part of the school.

[yeochild]

Mental note: ALWAYS pause the game and listen to your parents when they interrupt, otherwise you don't know what you might agree to.

[fjodor]

I don't think it completely shoots down the fairie-connection (if fairies get human bodies after they pass the first test, they can go live anywhere they like I guess) but it does open up the possibility of other creatures being able to shape-shift.

Btw: this page brings back a memory of me agreeing to be a tour guide for a horrible aunt of mine. My punishment was having to listen to two days of continuous complaining. But Aly's up for a longer term, so it seems.

[starkruzr]

What the hell?

How is that okay? How does he not have the option to back out?

[amaretto]

Man, my brother was the exact same way growing up. I used to warn him that if he didn't pay a little more attention to the outside world, it'd broadside him with the business end of a shovel. Then he moved to California, took up with a beautiful, doting sugar mama and gets paid good money to sit on his ass and play video games all day.

The moral of this story: roguish good looks totally compensate for an otherwise complete lack of social and life skills.

In a roundabout way, perhaps Aly’s parents are doing him a favor by sparing him the eventual indignity of male pattern baldness.

[La Goon]

Well, it could still be the same school/organisation/whatever that organizes these tests and give new bodies to both the suicide fairies and Aly’s parents.

Still - apparently Aly didn’t have to pass this test to get a bird body. Maybe those who passes the test also gets the ability to transform their children - but only if it’s accepted by the one who is going to be transformed, and that’s why Aly’s mum saw it necessary to "trick" Aly into accepting?

[mudmaniac]

starkruzr said:

What the hell?

How is that okay? How does he not have the option to back out?

Even if he did, wouldn't the alternative be spending the rest of your days without your parents? Knowing they were alive somewhere but never being able to see them ever again. A more frightening prospect that being turned into a bird I would wager.

[todd]

At least this page removes the worry that I'd had after reading the last one that Annie or Kat might wind up being transformed into an animal at some later date because one of their family members had passed a test. After hearing Aly's story, neither of them are going to be making the same mistake that he did! (Maybe Kat might have made such a mistake before, though I don't think that Annie ever would have; she's way too alert to do something like that.)

I suppose that being transformed into a bird with your parents is better than suddenly finding yourself an orphan. (If Aly had said "No", I *hope* that Mr. and Mrs. Kershaw would have found some way of providing for him after they'd sprouted feathers and beaks.)

The real irony of Aly agreeing to become a bird because he was too busy focusing on the computer game that he was playing at the time is that now he's never going to get to play another one (especially given the attitude that they've got towards such things in Gillitie Wood).

[fjodor]

So his parents pass a test, and Aly transforms? Or did Aly pass the test without noticing?

And if given a choice, why would anyone want to become a Crane? I'd opt for something cooler. Like an eagle. Or better: a Rogat Orjak! Yeay!

[Boksha]

todd said:

I suppose that being transformed into a bird with your parents is better than suddenly finding yourself an orphan. (If Aly had said "No", I *hope* that Mr. and Mrs. Kershaw would have found some way of providing for him after they'd sprouted feathers and beaks.

I'm guessing he would've ended up like Annie. Parentless on Gunnerkrigg.

amaretto said:

In a roundabout way, perhaps Aly’s parents are doing him a favor by sparing him the eventual indignity of male pattern baldness.

Just the indignity. I think papa bird showed us birds suffer from male pattern baldness as well.

[Bobbey]

At first, this strip made me laugh histerically! And then, after I was able to calm myself down, I was able to feel a bit bad for Aly: it made me think of myself when I was younger and never paid attention to my parents when I was playing videogames.
Now then, if his parents passed this test and not Aly (because he does not seem to say that he also passed the test like his parents in the last strip) why does Aly absolutely have to become a bird himself? Does the fact that, since the parents made this decision, the child automotically has to be transformed like them, or is this a choice that Aly made by himself, that he wanted to follow his parents into this transformation?

[La Poire]

Could be he also passed the test, after his parents, in order to transform. This would explain why they're already birds and he isn't.

[Boksha]

Sounds likely. I don't get the idea Aly's really troubled about the whole bird thing, or at least has come to terms with it.

[mrw]

So has passing this test resulted in a step up or a step down?
I mean, flying would be awesome, but it looks like Aly's parents have also moved down on the food chain. No opposable thumbs, eating worms or whatnot for breakfast, potentially becoming prey to large cats, and can they even still speak? Because they do not appear to be bird-people -- they appear to be birds.

There must be more to it than that, yes? Besides flying and pooping on Winsbury from the wild blue yonder, what are the advantages of this new form?

Oh, and as someone else said, Kat better kiss Aly quick before he grows a beak!

[todd]

I don't think that Aly had to pass the test himself; I think that the deal that his parents made with whoever was in charge of the test was that, since he'd given his consent to being changed into a bird (presumably they conveniently left out the fact that he hadn't been listening closely when they gave him the choice), if they passed it and were transformed, he was to be transformed alongside them. (Though, clearly not at the same rate.)

We'll probably find out more in the next couple of pages, however. (Maybe. Then again, maybe the Kershaws will leave before we can get the answers. Probably they will, so as to save something for later chapters to delve into.)

[greist]

If it's a 'step down' in species terms, could they be running from somebody/thing? I guess dropping the body would be one way to avoid a Reynardine type thing, if the new body is unexceptional. Or it could be a work thing, like when the children of soldiers grow up abroad.
Or if not, maybe they're just being tourists, or over the top environmentalists?

Either way, its' odd that Aly has been in school for the week. I guess he's going to need an education in the woods.

[laserpig]

Okay, a lot of weird and borderline creepy stuff has happened in this comic, but this is taking it to a new level.

Am I the only one who is completely unsettled by the idea of this nice kid turning into a bird for the rest of his life?
Is nobody else disturbed by that?

The cherry/drug tree was borderline creepy, so is Zimmy, and "borderline creepy" is cool and intriguing.
This is something else.
This is like "oh God what the f***??"
This is genuinely creepy.

[libra]

I'm disturbed.Mostly from Aly's parents.Why live in that forrest?!
It looks like they didn't like being human and/or loved birds.
So much still unknown.

[mrw]

boksha said:

Sounds likely. I don't get the idea Aly's really troubled about the whole bird thing, or at least has come to terms with it.

Yeah, he seems sad about leaving Kat just as he's getting to know her, but doesn't appear to be upset about anything else that a kid who's been tricked into losing his body would be.

The other thing is, we're assuming this is permanent for Aly. What if it isn't? If it's for say, 10 years, that's long enough that he might not even bother to tell someone he's only known for a week. Although I suppose Aly himself might not know yet.

[todd]

I wonder myself how much Aly knew at the start. Back on Tuesday (in the strip's internal chronology) when Kat asked him where he'd be going after the week was over, he said that he didn't have a clue and seemed genuinely puzzled. Probably his parents only alerted him to the fact that they'd be moving to Gillitie Wood sometime later.

Presumably they sent him to Gunnerkrigg: a) because it was next door to their future home and b) the teachers there would be used to handling weird things.

[Mezzaphor]

The suicide fairies had to pass the dying test in order to get new bodies and move OUT of Gillitie Forest. The Kernshaws had to pass a test to get new bodies to move INTO Gillitie. And when Robot 13 tried to move into Gillitie without passing a test or getting a new body, things went very badly.

I wonder what it all means.

[todd]

Of course, Shadow2's been able to move in and out of Gillitie without any adverse consequences (yet).

[Boksha]

Well, the suicide fairies needed new bodies outside of Gilletie because, let's face it, being a fairy in our world is just plain impractical. I'm sure they could leave whenever they wanted, but they'd be unregistered immigrants like the shadow kid.

[owl]

Okay, questions:
A) Why isn't Aly more upset by this? (good at hiding it? resigned? in denial?)
B) Is it permanent?
and
C) Why Gillitie Wood?

From what we've SEEN, it's a dangerous, foreboding place. But what if it's not? What if it's a paradise that they're trying to recreate in the Cherry Tree Room? That's why the arm is there. They got it and are keeping it as genuine Gillitie wood (haha), and TVNM is...okay, this is getting kind of wild-specualtion-y. But does anyone else think we're leaping to too many conclusions about the Wood itself? I mean, it a PLACE. Fantastic world aside, how evil can a place be?

[Ben²]

Hum. First, has anyone considered that Aly's flippant explanation as to how he agreed to be a bird might be a lie?* It's cleverly disguised as a cute joke in comic form, but consider it from a story perspective. It's a little too easy. I think Aly might be giving a short excuse simply for Kat's sake. Maybe there's a secret that needs to remain a secret, or maybe he just doesn't want to spend his last moments as a human with Kat explaining something boring.

(*Edit: Ah, wait, I just read the Questions to Tom thread, and he says it's for real.

(Unless HE is lying as well! Deceptions within deceptions.... You are a clever one, Mr. Siddel, but I'm on to you.) )

Also: The whole bird thing might be the reason why he was taken to Gunnerkrigg Court. The Suicide Fairies were there to pass a test, so maybe Aly's parents were there to take the test as well. After all, the place is exceedingly magical. Such a test might not work anywhere else.

As for why Aly was in school: well, maybe it was just a convenient daycare for the kid. Whatever his parents were doing might've been dangerous or would leave their child alone for some time, something no parent wants to subject their kid to, so why not have the school look after him?

Food and boarding are provided, along with adult supervision and other kids his age to play with.

It'd explain, at least, why none of the teachers were really requiring much from him in terms of education. Like with the art project, it seems they were just handing him things to keep him occupied for the day.

...Yup.

[misoxmikado]

Four words: Leda and the swan.

O.O

I'm a very bad person.

[todd]

They're a little young for that, too - though it's probably just as well. One Helen of Troy was enough.

[Yin]

misoxmikado said:

Four words: Leda and the swan.

O.O

I'm a very bad person.

*chokes*

...I refuse to look it up, because I vaguely remember a bit and it's not a pretty picture.

[Aspen d'Grey]

Mmmmm, no. Yeah misoxmikado, that wasn't really necessary. Bad mental image.

[laserpig]

misoxmikado said:

Four words: Leda and the swan.

O.O

I'm a very bad person.

Hahaha... dirty much?