[290] Story Discussion - I'll be fine.

[Mezzaphor]

I say "Early", you say "Update".

Cute.

And there goes my theory about boarding with Basil. Oh well.

EDIT: I love the expression in the last panel.

[neal]

Oh yeah, Reynardine the great, playmate of 12 year old girls everywhere!


It will be an interesting summer, I am sure.

[Goatmon]

This is page 290, not 289.

[todd]

I wonder whether the next chapter will deal with what happens to Annie over the summer, or whether it'll fast-forward to the beginning of the new school year.

Reynardine might not be the ideal companion, but at least Annie can keep him under control - and he may be starting to change for the better. Slightly.

Given the look on Parley's face on the previous page, I have the feeling that Annie's new classes are going to be - interesting. At least Smith seems likely to welcome her. (Of course, that just might make Parley even less keen on Annie.)

[ceezedby]

Hmmm... Annie all alone for the summer in an empty school (filled with mysterious arboria, holodecks, and its own inner-city rail service), and with only a demon-possessed doll, an infatuated amateur ghost, a basement full of robots, a shadow that talks like Kat, assorted tic-toc birds, and Basil the Minotaur for company. Sure, nothing will happen.

She's playing with her blinker stone. A bit of foreshadowing there, maybe.

[yeochild]

I reckon Anja did something to Annie's blinker stone on that roof, and is using it to subtly control her. Or maybe she replaced it with her old one. Annie looking so unthinkingly fascinated in that little rock just doesn't seem . . . right, somehow.

And why is she so happy about the prospect of spending so much of summer with Reynardine? Is she going to get him to talk about Coyote and the history of the Court? Or is there some other plan afoot? Ah well, we'll find out on Monday . . .

[nickgoodway]

While I wouldn't say I'd be inclined to trust Rey further than could comfortably spit a rat (thank you Douglas Adams), putting yourself in (apparently) mortal danger on her behalf does seem to be the way to turn a young girl's head.

[Goatmon]

yeochild said:

I reckon Anja did something to Annie's blinker stone on that roof, and is using it to subtly control her. Or maybe she replaced it with her old one. Annie looking so unthinkingly fascinated in that little rock just doesn't seem . . . right, somehow.

And why is she so happy about the prospect of spending so much of summer with Reynardine? Is she going to get him to talk about Coyote and the history of the Court? Or is there some other plan afoot? Ah well, we'll find out on Monday . . .

Annie can't make Reynardine share personal information if he's not comfortable with sharing it.

[spritznar]

that doesn't mean she can't pester the living daylights out of him till he talks though ;D

[todd]

Kat's remark about Annie not being in trouble after all reminds me of the issue that I was wondering about most as I read this chapter: what might happen to Annie if the faculty found out about her unwittingly stirring up all that trouble in Gillitie Wood by sending Robot across the bridge - and, if they did find out, how the story would be able to continue to allow her to have adventures (given that, if they didn't expel her outright or turn her over to the forest-folk in order to appease them, they'd probably take care to monitor her actions so closely that she'd find it difficult to slip off by herself or just a couple of friends such as Kat). And Tom solved it neatly by having the forest-folk *not* bring up Robot (thanks to their getting too involved with Reynardine - which, I still think, was their real plan), so the teachers don't know about Annie's actions.

If anything, they've opened the door to further possibilities for her, by asking her to share lessons with Parley and Smith (no prizes for guessing what kinds of things those lessons will be about) - not to mention, as I said above, the likelihood of a few clashes between Annie and Parley.

[Count Casimir]

spritznar said:

that doesn't mean she can't pester the living daylights out of him till he talks though ;D

"Do pushups until you tell me about my mother!"

Chapter's not over yet! Wonder what there is left to say?

[todd]

We'll find out on Monday. Maybe something to do with Eglamore escorting Coyote and Ysengrin back to Gillitie. Or maybe a "winding-up" of Annie and Kat's conversation.

[Boksha]

yeochild said:

I reckon Anja did something to Annie's blinker stone on that roof, and is using it to subtly control her. Or maybe she replaced it with her old one. Annie looking so unthinkingly fascinated in that little rock just doesn't seem . . . right, somehow.

I'm guessing it's just because she knows it can do a lot more than create a fire now.
And Anja did promise Annie she'd tell her how to properly use it; maybe she gave a few pointers for Annie to get started and she's trying those out now?

[La Goon]

My guess: Anja or Donald comes into Kat's room to say something about packing.

For the bonus page: Something a bit like "Plenty of Spiders" with either Coyote and Ysengrin of Parley and Smith.

Anyone wanna bet? ;D

[mudmaniac]

I do believe that this school break is going to present an opportunity for Annie to venture into the woods. I do look forward to seeing Ms. Carver in fashionable pants.

[todd]

I'm not certain that Annie *will* venture into the woods for some time. Though she's probably curious, she made it clear by her answer that she doesn't trust Coyote - and the audience clearly doesn't trust him, either. At this point, Annie heading into the woods, just like that, would look too obviously like the old cliche of the hero foolishly blundering into an obvious trap - something that would be certain to ruin the story.

(Annie has walked into traps before, twice: going to see Reynardine in his holding cell in Chapter Three, and running out onto the bridge to meet Robot in Chapter Seven. However, Tom was careful to hide any hints of Reynardine's true nature from both Annie and us in Chapter Three until he tried to possess her - making that act as much a shock to the reader as to Annie - and likewise, he didn't reveal that Robot had been taken over by the forest-folk until Annie had run out onto the bridge.)

If Annie is going to head out into the forest, it's likely to only be with a lot of protection in case Coyote tries anything treacherous - not to mention that she's certainly aware of the dangers posed by other inhabitants of the forest, such as Ysengrin. She'll certainly be enough on her guard that it won't be so easy for Coyote and his followers to attempt the same kind of trickery on her as they did on Robot (especially since she knows exactly what they did to him).

[Count Casimir]

Coyote guaranteed Annie safety; he didn't say anything about, say, Reynardine. While I don't know how the forest thing will wind up, I don't doubt for a second Coyote knew what he was saying.