[284] Story Discussion - RAAAAGH!

[Mezzaphor]

Early update, if you dare.

...

Shock and dismay.

Does this mean... Reynardine and Surma... ugh.

Rey's got some explaining to do. Assuming he and Annie live through this.

[papaya]

Oh, I'm not worried about Annie at all. If she hadn't stood up for herself, I'd be worried, but as things are playing out, there's no way the teachers are just going to stand there and let Coyote and Ysengrin bully her. And since this turn of events simultaneously provides a spectacular distraction from the bridge incident and puts Annie clearly in the right, I think it's less likely that she will end up in trouble.

[Tom Siddell]

Damn, the main comic site seems to be down. I hope it is back up soon.

[fjodor]

Drunk Duck is up though. What a page by the way.

I wonder who will come to Annie's rescue: Eglamore, Reynardine, or perhaps the silent girl?

[Count Casimir]

Or all three! They'll be like *bam* and Ysengrin will be down for the count! (I don't really believe that).

Oh wow. First time we've seen Annie angry! Justifiably so, of course. Coyote's a l'il creepy.

It doesn't seem likely that Rey and Surma were quite THAT close; Coyote is probably just pushing buttons. Although that brings up a VERY wild speculation...Rey is Annie's father!

EDIT: Ysengrin is scary when angry, though Coyote doesn't seem too upset.

[mudmaniac]

Of all the onomatopoeia replacements Tom has utilized so far, "SPANKIES!" most definitely takes the gold medal.

Ysengrin strikes me as being the kinda guy thats straight and narrow serious that always gets tricked by Rey and whomever has has their wits about them. These are the kinda people that hold onto their anger and frustration until one day they explode.

[todd]

Thank goodness for drunkduck, with the regular site temporarily (I hope) out of commission.

Coyote has now definitely established himself as not a gentleman - and his behavior is all the more tasteless given that Annie's only 12. Fortunately, Annie knows how to deal with mashers.

And the conference between the Court and the Wood continues to break down into chaos.... Something tells me that by the time that this is over, the ambassadors are not going to find themselves in any position to be lodging complaints against the school.

[nikita]

That was unexpected. I knew we would need the attack beaver sooner or later.

I wonder who Ysengrin is actually attacking. There's no real reason to be angry now. Ok, Reynardine made this gardening joke, but why wait this long before attacking him?
And I don't see a reason for him attacking Annie.
Maybe he aims for the chapter6 guy.. or something completely different we haven't even seen yet.

However, I guess Anja and Eglamore are capable to stop Ysengrins attack.

[Yin]

This gives a whole new meaning to that 'Does this excite you, little girl?' strip.

Eeeeww.

[shishio]

todd said:

Thank goodness for drunkduck, with the regular site temporarily out of commission.

Agreed.

Silly Ysengrin, Trix are for kids.

Nikita, Ysengrin is attacking Annie for hitting Coyote.

[spritznar]

shishio said:

Nikita, Ysengrin is attacking Annie for hitting Coyote.

probably doesn't help that she called him "bad dog", which could be interpreted as demeaning when referring to a GOD

on another note, ysengrin needs to get a sense of humor. you'd think he would pick one up hanging with a trickster god and all...

[nikita]

But don't you think such an attack would be too extreme? Ok, it's Ysengrin... but look at his face. It just doesn't look like he's going punish some little girl.

[Boksha]

Ysengrin's out of his mind, but he has been like that since he got there. He's the kind of guy that absolutely loves pissing other people off but can't take even the smallest joke or insult himself. Someone insulting his biggest idol is probably worse.
Judging from the way the headmaster has been acting around him, I'm guessing he's always been like that and the headmaster knows it; I wouldn't be surprised if pissing Ysengrin off bad enough to make him give a good reason to toss him back to the other side of the Annan waters was the headmaster's plan all along.

Also, I'm guessing whatever Reynardine felt for Surma wasn't mutual.

[La Goon]

I'm somewhat expecting Coyote to somehow pacifying or disarming Ysengrin. He is well aware that he deserved that "spankies", and I truly doubt that he'd want Annie to get hurt.

Coyote gave Ysengrin those wooden arms, right? I guess he could easily remove them again. That would be too sweet ;D

(no pun intended by using the word "disarming")

EDIT: just a small grammar error

[0masamune]

ecchi hound!
i wonder if kat will retalliate?

[Bobbey]

Ysengrin is really frightening in this one...I hope that Reynardine comes to Annie's rescue in the next strip, or at least that Coyote stops Ysengrin before he can harm her...

Also, Omasamune, your avatar is purely awsome.

[todd]

papaya said:

And since this turn of events simultaneously provides a spectacular distraction from the bridge incident and puts Annie clearly in the right, I think it's less likely that she will end up in trouble.

Yes. As I've said before, it's a good thing for her that Coyote and Ysengrin didn't make a serious attempt to get to the bottom of the recent events. (Coyote doesn't even bother talking about them at all, Ysengrin only mentions the incident at the bridge and the dead Tic-Toc Bird, but never brings up Robot's presence in Gillitie Wood - and further undermines his case by making the unnecessary charge that Anthony Carver was behind the Tic-Toc. "Unnecessary" in that it was obvious that the sweater that he discovered by the bird's remains was part of the Gunnerkrigg school uniform; that was evidence that the school was somehow involved, regardless of which specific person it belonged to.)

And now, with Reynardine reporting that the incident at the bridge was an attempt to abduct him (which costs the forest-folk emissaries some of the moral high ground, particularly since they don't even try to deny the charge), Coyote harassing Annie, and Ysengrin completely losing his temper and starting a fight, these two have probably forfeited what little credibility they had remaining in the eyes of the school faculty.

P.S. I'm glad that the site's back up again.

[Goatmon]

I'm sure Reynardine will move in to stop his jackass cousin.

As a side note, Coyote got off easy. He's quite lucky Antimony doesn't have access to hammerspace.

[La Poire]

I doubt giant hammers would have hurt Coyote much anyway. I'm pretty sure he could defend himself pretty well on his own if necessary; and as he's acually laughing that makes Ysengrin's attack seem a little harsh. Probably more for the Bad Dog than anything, though. Coyote doesn't seem to mind, but Ysengrin seems to me to be the kind of person to be very insulted if called a dog, which, being a wolf, could be a bit of a sore issue.

[Mezzaphor]

If Ysengrin and Coyote do get thrown out, will that solve the diplomatic situation between the Court and the Wood? If Gillitie in general, or Coyote or Y in particular, genuinely feel wronged by Robot's intrusion and the TicToc's planting, I suspect they'll just be angrier about such an abrupt end to negotiations. Unless there's some even higher authority to judge between the two sides, I suspect this will bring Gunnerkrigg and Gillitie closer to war. Heck, maybe Coyote's or Annie's action could be considered an act of war.

Someone on the front page comment pointed out that Coyote's eyes are closed in panel two. So he isn't being a perv, he's just acting like one to get a reaction. So who is he trying to provoke, Annie? Reynardine? Both? Coyote is very cunning, and I suspect that even Y doesn't know what Coyote's planning.

countcasimir said:

It doesn't seem likely that Rey and Surma were quite THAT close; Coyote is probably just pushing buttons.

The best lies and taunts are those that hit close to the truth. That said, I'm sure Coyote is never to be trusted.

EDIT: While I definitely could see someone leaping to Annie's aid (Rey, Eggers if he has a sword nearby, Anja if she knows any magic suitable for this situation), I can just as easily see this ending very badly for Annie, in spite of their help. So far this chapter has paralleled ch 7, and we all remember how that one ended.

[todd]

mezzaphor said:

If Gillitie in general, or Coyote or Y in particular, genuinely feel wronged by Robot's intrusion and the TicToc's planting, I suspect they'll just be angrier about such an abrupt end to negotiations.

The forest-folk probably should have thought of that before they chose those two particular diplomats. Neither Coyote nor Ysengrin have behaved in a very professional manner during this meeting.

[fuzzysocks]

mudmaniac said:

Of all the onomatopoeia replacements Tom has utilized so far, "SPANKIES!" most definitely takes the gold medal.

Ysengrin strikes me as being the kinda guy thats straight and narrow serious that always gets tricked by Rey and whomever has has their wits about them. These are the kinda people that hold onto their anger and frustration until one day they explode.

Gold Medal Indeed!

[Ptollu Vux]

I couldn't resist.


On-topic, looks like Ysengrin is basically Coyote's bodyguard/mediator. Maybe Reynardine took the same position at some point in the past. In fact, maybe the reason he's a "criminal" is because he rebelled against his god, breaking the aforementioned rule that would prevent him from leaving.
There's a lot going on here that's going to need explaining...

[spritznar]

goatmon said:

Coyote got off easy. He's quite lucky Antimony doesn't have access to hammerspace.

if annie had access to hammerspace i could totally see coyote just being flattened and then popping back, unharmed - like one of the Wile E. Coyote cartoons

also, spankies is definitely awesomeness. i didn't even notice it till i read mudmaniac's post, then i had to go back and stare incredulously for a minute

[Cassiopea The Grande]

If you look at some of the original myths, the ones that were cut out of modern retelling for being a little too above the PG rating, Coyote was not above all this pervish behaviour and taking it too far.

Maybe he liked the spankies.

[Boksha]

mezzaphor said:

Someone on the front page comment pointed out that Coyote's eyes are closed in panel two. So he isn't being a perv, he's just acting like one to get a reaction.

He has his nose up her skirt!

[Aura]

I thinking Coyote's eyes were closed because he's laughing so hard--you know the feeling: you laugh so hard you have a moment where everything's a blur XD

I vote Eggy will come to her rescue, just 'cause Rey's too stubborn to prove his cousin right

[Zem]

spritznar said:

goatmon said:

Coyote got off easy. He's quite lucky Antimony doesn't have access to hammerspace.

if annie had access to hammerspace

then I would probably stop reading the comic

[UbiquitousDragon]

I think the Coyote will intervene, he seems really good natured about it--I mean he is laughing. Though Eglamore getting more screen-time is never a bad thing ;D

[Count Casimir]

Why would Rey intervene? If Annie dies, he's free again! Does he really have to protect her? After all, she didn't ORDER him to.