[274] Story Discussion - You look much younger...

[Aspen d'Grey]

Well, looks like I lose. The dog is going to be important to the story.

I suppose that, as a Medium, Annie seems very similar to Surma.

No-one seems very please by this... Parley is pissed because she failed, the Headmaster would appear to be a little annoyed, and blondy is worried for Annie?

[mudmaniac]

Well. I think that Parley Parley isn't being pissed or anything, just rather her general lack of tact shows in just about everything she does. I don't think she envies Annie much; ever been sniffed up by a wolf god lately?

Annie shows her usual neutral disposition in dealing with supernatural elements. I gather if Basil don't faze her, very little else would (video-games, pop culture, etc notwithstanding)

[fjodor]

Question is: When the fox-god addresses Annie, do all the others understand what he's saying, or only the mediums?

[todd]

Today's page establishes that the deceased medium who was mentioned in the previous page was indeed Surma, and not some other intervening figure (the former always made far more sense to me). Though that still raises the question of what they did for a medium at the school during Surma's hospitalization, before they began to train Parley and Smith. Maybe the last time that they needed one was before Annie's birth.

The one full picture that we have of Surma (the photograph of her and her classmates) does show her bearing a strong resemblance to Annie (except that her hair's curly), so it seems reasonable that the dog-like creature from the forest would comment on this.

[Boksha]

The resemblance is more than strong; it's uncanny. Strong enough for Eglamore to yell out "Surma!" when Annie fell from that bridge. And it's not just her looks either, it's the way she acts and perhaps the way spirits sense her too.

I get the idea the the highly decorative fox thing isn't really well versed on humans. Humans tend not to get younger.

[Mezzaphor]

I love this page. The totem wolf misidentifying Annie just struck me as really funny. I also like how Annie keeps her calm, even though she's obviously quite uncomfortable.

The totem wolf seems a bit friendlier than the wolf tree, though that could just be goodwill towards Surma. How will he react when he finds out this isn't Surma?

[Yin]

I'm interested as to why he didn't smell the difference. Or does she also smell uncannily similar to her mother?

[mudmaniac]

Annie wears makeup. tho one can only assume here, maybe she also wears perfume. She has been living around a hospital most her time. Unless Muut is also well versed in the grooming habits of women, I would bet money Surma used to teach young Annie about lipstick and perfumes. As such, Annie would use the same perfume as her mother and hence smell indistinguishable.

Of course, it could be some bit about auras and my theory gets thrown out the window the come Friday.

[La Goon]

mezzaphor said:

The totem wolf seems a bit friendlier than the wolf tree...

Maybe they are doing a "good cop/bad cop"

But yes, the totem wolf/dog thingy does seem pretty friendly (and a bit naive). I suspect, he/she/it hasn't had a lot of experiences with humans.

[Goatmon]

I'm guessing that the god is actually the smaller creature, and that This "General" wolf-tree guy is actually his emissary/bodyguard who also helps keep the forest free of pesky humans and robots snooping around.

Kind of hard to imagine that a god wouldn't be able to tell one human apart from another though, but I suppose even a god could mistake Antimony for Surma, given that she's her mother's mirror image.

[Bobbey]

I love the way the fox-god in designed, very colorful...it makes him look a lot less menacing than the General...maybe he's his counterpart in some way? A good/evil God, where both his sides are represented by two different characters? Or am I just getting too wild speculationy?

[aoeniac]

With all the wild speculation we do here, I'm surprised none of you have theorized that perhaps Annie IS Surma in some sense.

Here's a few crackpot theories to get you started:

1. Anthony isn't really Antimony's father in a biological sense, but rather he created a clone of Surma... being a doctor. And we all know that doctor can mean a lot of things in a world as advanced and crazy as the GKC world. The differences in hair could just be different methods of styling, being raised differently, or imperfections in the cloning procedure.

2. Surma's spirit, after being taken by Muut, has secretly been right there with Antimony, guiding her, and the jackal-wolf-god-thing can sense her. Secretly meaning to Annie, and most of her friends and associates, not to say... Muut.

3. Surma started to die because giving birth to Antimony was actually imparting her essence to her child, and without it her body began to wither.

[rastarogue]

Why is everybody assuming that the fox is the god? Did I miss something?
Second, Why does everybody from the woods and from the court seem to like Surma, or have some connection to her?

[jolt]

And note how her hair seems to relfect ehr mood, in that sublte artsistic way...I agree that the wolf-being must not be well breifed on humans.

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[UbiquitousDragon]

But isn't Annie being Surma just too clichéd?

[Mezzaphor]

rastarogue said:

Why is everybody assuming that the fox is the god? Did I miss something?

The wolf tree's use of first person plural on the last page ("You expect us to talk to children?") plus the fact that the wolf tree was able to talk to everyone without a medium or interpreter. I don't think it's conclusive, so I'ma just wait and see which wolf is the real god.

lagoon said:

mezzaphor said:

The totem wolf seems a bit friendlier than the wolf tree...

Maybe they are doing a "good cop/bad cop"

That gives me a great idea for a fanart picture...

ALSO: I really like the colors on the totem wolf. In particular, the way its outline gradients from red to black is really cool.