[280] Story Discussion - Exclamation Mark

[Mezzaphor]

Drunk Duck Early Update

My reaction as I read the page:
Panels 1 & 2: What??
Panels 3 & 4: Ooooh...
Panel 6: OH SNAP

I am consoled by the fact that this is a Wednesday update, so we only have to wait two days to see the immediate consequences of this development.

[Yin]

Wow, they really have something against Mr Carver, huh?

I like how the headmaster (or whoever he is) is all 'Now you're just wasting our time'. He seems on the verge of smacking his forehead.

[Count Casimir]

Harhar, take THAT Ysengrin! That outta wipe that smirk off your face! (And probably turn it into a blood-hungry mask of rage.)

[todd]

If it wasn't for the fact that Tom's been drawing the whole thing in advance, I'd have suspected that he designed it as a deliberate way of teasing everyone who was speculating that Anthony was the one behind the Tic-Tocs.

I should have known that trouble would come from Annie forgetting to take her sweater back to the school with her (though I *had* noticed that she'd neglected to bring it with her).

Now that Annie's spoken up to admit her involvement in some of the events that have angered Ysengrin and the other forest-folk (and, once she's confessed to it being her sweater, it's going to be only a matter of time before she has to explain about everything else), I find myself wondering all the more how she's going to fare. Her actions, while innocent in intent, have brought the school and the forest to the brink of war. That's clearly going to call for serious disciplinary measures from the faculty (not just a week's worth of detention this time).

At the same time, according to Tom, the webcomic still has a long way to go, so I don't think that this can be the final chapter. And it depends on Annie being at the school and exploring it, so I doubt that he can have her expelled from Gunnerkrigg, or put under such heavy restriction and supervision by the teachers that she has no opportunity to have further adventures. (Unless, that is, he decides to make Annie into a far less involved observer/narrator figure with it being her classmates - Kat, Winsbury, Janet, etc. - having the adventures and Annie just tells us about them based on what she's been able to pick up.) I'm looking forward to seeing how Tom handles this situation, therefore.

[UbiquitousDragon]

Tsk-tsk, what *did* Anthony get up to when he was a school? Though now we know that Annie has as much as her dad's knack for getting into trouble (albeit accidentally in this case), as well as her mum's looks/forthrightness.

[Boksha]

Is it just me, or is Ysengrim disconnected from the world enough to think an adult man can fit into a school girl's jersey?

[nikita]

todd said:

Now that Annie's spoken up to admit her involvement in some of the events that have angered Ysengrin and the other forest-folk (and, once she's confessed to it being her sweater, it's going to be only a matter of time before she has to explain about everything else), I find myself wondering all the more how she's going to fare. Her actions, while innocent in intent, have brought the school and the forest to the brink of war. That's clearly going to call for serious disciplinary measures from the faculty (not just a week's worth of detention this time).

Well, Annie didn't jump off the bridge deliberately, but was pushed by the robot. So you can hardly blame her for landing on the forests side of the river.
Ysengrin could only blame the Court in general for sending the birds. Even if they didn't: I'm sure Ysengrin will demand compensation from the court which they won't accept.

I guess we'll hear Coyote again in the next pages. Or even Reynardine! He is the only witness and he can be forced not to lie by Annie. Coyote will know that Reynardine indeed can't but follow Annies orders.

[Mezzaphor]

todd said:

Now that Annie's spoken up to admit her involvement in some of the events that have angered Ysengrin and the other forest-folk (and, once she's confessed to it being her sweater, it's going to be only a matter of time before she has to explain about everything else), I find myself wondering all the more how she's going to fare. Her actions, while innocent in intent, have brought the school and the forest to the brink of war. That's clearly going to call for serious disciplinary measures from the faculty (not just a week's worth of detention this time).

I'm a bit more scared about the repercussions from the Forest. When Ysengrin finds out that all of his grievances (the death of the Shadow, the planting of the TicToc, the intruding Robot) can be traced to the red-haired girl who just made him look like an idiot in front of Coyote and the Court, he will be raging. And we don't know the terms of the truce between the Court and the Woods: if Ysengrin asks for Annie's head, can the Court say no?

boksha said:

Is it just me, or is Ysengrim disconnected from the world enough to think an adult man can fit into a school girl's jersey?

Maybe he thinks it shrunk.

[todd]

nikita said:

Well, Annie didn't jump off the bridge deliberately, but was pushed by the robot. So you can hardly blame her for landing on the forests side of the river.
Ysengrin could only blame the Court in general for sending the birds. Even if they didn't: I'm sure Ysengrin will demand compensation from the court which they won't accept.

She was pushed because she ran out onto the bridge - and she sent Robot into the forest, which led to his getting possessed by the shadow-man who wound up getting vaporized by the electric lights (just imagine what happens when Ysengrin finds out that she was responsible for Robot's presence in the forest!). And it was presumably her investigation of the Tic-Toc Bird that allowed it to start rooting itself in the shore. (Plus, we haven't touched on the issue of "Shadow2 being kidnapped"* that Reynardine mentioned at the end of Chapter Twelve.)

All in all, I'd say that Annie is soon going to wind up "Public Enemy No. 1" from the perspective of Ysengrin, and maybe many other forest-folk as well.

*Of course, we know that Shadow2 wasn't kidnapped, but any cunning lawyer (or even a suspicious wolf-headed general) could use his involvement to weaken Annie's defense still further. "You claim that you did not kidnap him, that he went back with you to the Court of his own desire. But you also said that he was so desperate to leave the Court and return to the forest earlier, desperate enough that you had to send the robot into Gillitie Wood to enable him to return! Your story does not hold together."

[fuzzysocks]

boksha said:

Is it just me, or is Ysengrim disconnected from the world enough to think an adult man can fit into a school girl's jersey?

Most of the people from the woods don't seem to realize that people grow older...
Mayhaps he still though he was a young lad.

[spritznar]

what i'm wondering is how much annie's going to have to explain. think she could get away without admitting she sent the robot into the forest? cause i have to say, once he finds that out i don't think ysengrin will be inclined to listen to reason long enough to hear why it seemed like a good idea at the time...

really, hearing the court cheated their way out of the "death for a death" thing might be enough to set him off. (he says they were "originally" satisfied because they'd heard annie died but i can't tell whether or not he knows she didn't)


ps: i'd appreciate it if someone could let me know if i make any sense because for some reason the sentances seem extra complicated and wordy after they leave my head

[fjodor]

Annie sent robot into the forest in order to bring one of the Glass eyed men home. They can hardly be angry about that. On the contrary: I think the forest peeps will have to do some explaining when the GC people hear that a Glass-eyed man (or child really) was found in the Court. I'm guessing the story will take that turn soon now.

[todd]

fjodor said:

Annie sent robot into the forest in order to bring one of the Glass eyed men home. They can hardly be angry about that. On the contrary: I think the forest peeps will have to do some explaining when the GC people hear that a Glass-eyed man (or child really) was found in the Court. I'm guessing the story will take that turn soon now.

Except that Ysengrin might not believe Annie's story - especially (as I mentioned above) since she wound up bringing Shadow2 back to the school with her during her visit to the forest. (Reynardine even commented that the forest-folk would misinterpret that as an abduction.)

I've sometimes wondered how Shadow2 got into Gunnerkrigg to begin with. We know that he couldn't have crossed the bridge because of the electric lights (the fate of the shadow-man who possessed Robot indicates that they really are fatal to the shadow-folk). Did he get into the school some other way (a route that, presumably, he couldn't return to the forest by)? Or did somebody bring him in across the bridge?

[Bobbey]

I have a feeling that we'll soon find out who exactly was that sword lady in the forest and how she got accross the river.

[yeochild]

It appears that Elgamore isn't the only one that the Forest has a stubborn dislike of. I wonder what he and Anthony got up to in their younger days that made ole Ysengrin so ticked off?

[fjodor]

todd said:

Reynardine even commented that the forest-folk would misinterpret that as an abduction.

Good point. And like you, I wonder how Shadow2 ended up in the Court. It seems impossible to cross the bridge unseen.

[Count Casimir]

Or undestroyed, if you're a shadow.

Perhaps Ysengrin will simply lunge at Annie, precipitating a war right then and there?

[Mezzaphor]

todd said:

At the same time, according to Tom, the webcomic still has a long way to go, so I don't think that this can be the final chapter. And it depends on Annie being at the school and exploring it, so I doubt that he can have her expelled from Gunnerkrigg, or put under such heavy restriction and supervision by the teachers that she has no opportunity to have further adventures. (Unless, that is, he decides to make Annie into a far less involved observer/narrator figure with it being her classmates - Kat, Winsbury, Janet, etc. - having the adventures and Annie just tells us about them based on what she's been able to pick up.) I'm looking forward to seeing how Tom handles this situation, therefore.

In any case, Annie will definitely take Eglamore's advice about trying harder not to get caught.

[spritznar]

seriously ;D big scary wolf-demons are good incentive for not getting caught

in addition to annie getting in trouble with ysengrin for sending robot into the forest, there's also the fact that she blatantly lied to eglamore (page 164) when he asked if she knew anything about the robot on the bridge... no good can come of that

[rastarogue]

I have the feeling that should Ysengrin attempt to start a war over the death of a shadow man, Coyote will protect Annie.

[mudmaniac]

The group of old friends, Anthony, Surma, James have had dealing with Ysengrin. It is not unlikely they have ventured into the gillitie wood during their school days. Eglamore seems to hint that there was a method they (perhaps including the Donlans) had managed to do so undetected by the Court (very likely thru Surma's own creativeness). One would also assume that during their time in the woods, something they did (perhaps with the same unknowing innocence of Annie's actions) caused damage to the woods.

Speculation: Retaliation may have occurred, and the unamed girl in the photo may have suffered the consequences as such. Or maybe she just decided to move away from the weird that is GC.

Another piece of speculation: Things seem to imply that 1000eyebirds were the handywork of Annie's dad. I wonder if the large number of CPUs under evaluation, and the undecipherable extra component on robot's CPU, are his doing.

[UbiquitousDragon]

mudmaniac said:

Another piece of speculation: Things seem to imply that 1000eyebirds were the handywork of Annie's dad. I wonder if the large number of CPUs under evaluation, and the undecipherable extra component on robot's CPU, are his doing.

That's a fair point, I had been wondering about that extra bit on Robot's CPU. Especially since it had the bismuth symbol on which seems to be the symbol of Gunerkrigg Court.

[todd]

spritznar said:

in addition to annie getting in trouble with ysengrin for sending robot into the forest, there's also the fact that she blatantly lied to eglamore (page 164) when he asked if she knew anything about the robot on the bridge... no good can come of that

I've sometimes wondered about that scene, and what Annie's motive was for lying about that. I've thought of a few possibilities:

1. Annie's suspected since Chapter One that building the robot and sending him across the bridge might not be viewed by the faculty in a favorable light, might even be interpreted as almost as much a case of rule-breaking as crossing the bridge herself.

2. She doesn't want the teachers knowing that she had something to do with Robot after his possession caused all that trouble.

3. She may simply no longer trust Eglamore that much for various reasons (including his remarks to her about Surma in that same scene).

[Mezzaphor]

todd said:

spritznar said:

in addition to annie getting in trouble with ysengrin for sending robot into the forest, there's also the fact that she blatantly lied to eglamore (page 164) when he asked if she knew anything about the robot on the bridge... no good can come of that

I've sometimes wondered about that scene, and what Annie's motive was for lying about that. I've thought of a few possibilities:

1. Annie's suspected since Chapter One that building the robot and sending him across the bridge might not be viewed by the faculty in a favorable light, might even be interpreted as almost as much a case of rule-breaking as crossing the bridge herself.

2. She doesn't want the teachers knowing that she had something to do with Robot after his possession caused all that trouble.

3. She may simply no longer trust Eglamore that much for various reasons (including his remarks to her about Surma in that same scene).

Other possibilities I'd considered:

4. Childhood at Good Hope taught Annie that sometimes adults (besides mom and dad) don't have a clue what's going on. Annie also learned to rely on herself to solve her own problems. Self-reliance has become a habit for Annie, one which seemed validated when she attempted to tell a faculty member about Shadow2 and he didn't believe her.

5. Annie lost trust in Eglamore and the Donlans when she discovered they were friends of her parents, because they waited so long to tell her.

(Annie didn't just lie to Eglamore about Robot. Annie lied to Mr. Brass Buttons immediately after seeing Robot off, and she initially wouldn't even tell Kat what was going on.)

[spritznar]

i think not telling kat was more of a "this situation needs attention now and explanation later" thing

and i agree that annie probably had several of those reasons for not telling the adults (i vote 1 and 2)