[1532] That went quite well!

[fwip]

Good grief, I forgot to check the update tonight and then WHOA NELLY

I'm not sure that the fire elemental is pissed.  It's tough to tell with only the eyes.  www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=820 reference.

Is the fire elemental capable of manipulating the physical world?  To what extent is she etheric and to what extent is she physical?  GOSH DARNIT TOM

Is Annie manipulating her friends?  Is this why Anthony put her in the larger room?  Does the fire elemental represent Annie's stronger emotions, and the seperation suggest that she's burying them, similar to the mask?  Is this a coping mechanism?

Man, we really don't have much we can rely on.  Most of what we had taken as fact were really assumptions - reasonable ones at the time, but we don't know much about anything anymore.  We need to know more about the nature of the relationship with Annie and her father and Annie and the elemental.

[grinningcat]

Jun 26, 2015 7:20:52 GMT smjjames said:

SO, uh, she managed to make it into a separate (or maybe semi-separate) entity by cutting her hair?

*is confused*

And yeah, the fire elemental looks like she wants to burn something.

Wildspec: The Ether doesn't work on silly 'rules'. It runs on bullshit symbolism

[hypixion]

I'm not even going to try and guess what happened.

[artezzatrigger]

Jun 26, 2015 7:25:37 GMT Chancellor said:

HODANG, JUST READ THE /CO/ THREAD.

WHAT IF SHE USED COYOTE'S TOOTH TO CUT OUT HER FIRE ELEMENT AND NOW IT'S A NEW AND SEPARATE ENTITY LIKE SHADOW?

...This is absolutely terrifying if that's what happened. Lord knows what repercussions this could have.

Nice to see Annie isn't actually broken after all, though. The sudden personality shift felt very surreal. But what on earth could her endgame be?

Edit: These pages are the last time we saw the elemental. I don't know if its the exposure to oxygen in the physical world, an art shift or what, but she doesn't look as healthy as she did in Zimmy's ether...but that could be a bias in my imagination.

[rafk]

I really doubt this is a good thing. Whether Anthony caused this or Annie is dissociating all by herself.

The idea that Annie separated the fire elemental out merely by giving herself a haircut must be one of the looniest theories I've seen gain traction here (ok, not as loonie as the recent gosh golly ANNIE WON'T BE A MAIN CHARACTER ANYMORE theories but still loony). It may well be a sign of the dissociation, but not the cause.

[melkior]

I think the lesson we must learn from all this is that Antimony is still Antimony, no matter how much under her father's thumb she may appear to be.

[hypixion]

puts on tinfoil hat: or what if that fire thingy is annie and the fire elemental has taken over her body?

[Rasselas]

[bewildered expletives]

[imaginaryfriend]

Jun 26, 2015 8:47:32 GMT hypixion said:

puts on tinfoil hat: or what if that fire thingy is annie and the fire elemental has taken over her body?

If that were the case I would have expected Antimony to ruin the dinner party instead of Anthony. Or at least get in on the act.

[basser]

Oh. This... reminds me of drugs. I mean of specifically of how I use drugs, anyway. That's... not good.

So when I was younger, I had a poor temper. I'd react impulsively to things which made me angry, pick fights, say stupid things, generally be horrible to people. And... you know, I tried to stop. It wasn't like I wanted to do those things and make all those poor choices, it just happened. I did my best to fix the problem. Therapy, meditation, self-punishment. Eventually I got fairly decent at quelling my instinct to lash out. But even then I knew I'd never be completely successful in the effort. I still have no hope whatsoever of keeping myself reigned in under stressful situations; always know there's a good chance I'll do or say something awful without being able to stop it. Which increases the stress, which of course then makes it more likely to happen... and more likely to be catastrophic. Life-ruining impulsive decisions. I'm forced to sit and watch myself destroy myself.

Except. Turns out all of this stops when I'm high. If I'm on speed or cocaine I can be completely calm and collected, maintain a level attitude, not give in to anger. I'm the most zen human being on the planet.

Some of my friends have over the years likened this to smothering a part of my personality. Like I'm killing my spirit or something. To which I say, well, that kind of spirit isn't exactly welcome, now is it? I need to be able to hold down a job and support myself, behave rationally, act like an adult. After a certain age nobody gives you a free pass on a "fiery temper", you know. It isn't cute to be aggressively strong-willed in a competitive job market. You either get lucky enough to avoid demotion or, more often, you get fired. And then you starve. So, yeah, as long as I can afford to keep myself perpetually high, I will, because I need to be able to quell that spirit in order to survive. It's more important to function properly than it is to be whole. Even if that definition of "proper" is a societal construct - whether I like it or not I'm stuck living in this society, with all its attendant consequences, and so I must find a way to fit in until such time as I'm powerful enough to flaunt the rules. If that ever happens.

And, so... this image is... kind of a stab in the gut. With the fire's chopped-off hair and... everything. Just... christ.

And I'm not even thinking "oh no Annie don't do it", either. No, she has to do this. It's inevitable. I find it very depressing, sure, but then I also know there's no actual way for people like us to "be ourselves" and not soon find our lives mired in ruin and strife. That rhetoric is only good for the sheltered kids, really. The ones who haven't had a single hot-headed decision destroy everything they've ever wanted, who're lucky enough to have the social and emotional support to cushion their biggest mistakes. The rest of us just get a litany of painful lessons regarding fire and then we learn to protect ourselves.

I'd actually be really... I guess happy isn't the word, but it would be satisfying in its own way, if the solution to all of this doesn't turn out to be an easy Disney-esque "be yourself" aesop but instead something much more complicated. Annie's fire spirit really is quite dangerous, after all. Letting it control her shouldn't be the answer.

Hm now I've written an over-sentimental novel of a comment for little to no reason other than having had a sad moment in response to a picture on the internet. Fantastic.

[Rasselas]

Jun 26, 2015 9:07:50 GMT basser said:

Hm now I've written an over-sentimental novel of a comment for little to no reason other than having had a sad moment in response to a picture on the internet. Fantastic.

It's happened to me a few times, over here. Makes you feel silly, doesn't it?

THIS COMIC

Thanks for sharing all that. It's some piece of art that gets you to reevaluate like half your life, yeah?

[haspen]

inb4...

...Tony came back and began desensitizing Annie because its part of his surgical process of 'removing' the dooming presence of Fire Elemental. The process involved Tony having to do something extremely dangerous as evidenced by scarred face/body and lack of one hand. And the gathering of knowledge/preparation for the process is the cause for Tony's several-years-long dissappearance.
Now, Annie has to put on a ruse of being to control her emotions and to remain calm and stoic and not give in to passion ('Fire' is often a passionate, emotional element). Maybe, she have actually talked with her father all about this in the first place, and have agreed to this plan, to ensure that eventual pregnancy and birth of a child won't kill Annie.
Considering both Carvers being rather introvert (runs in the family, eh?), they forgot to tell everyone and/or did not tell for the sole purpose of her friends causing drama and heightened emotional responses to further train Annie's mastery of calm.
Heck, considering this is GC (stranger things have happened), various amount of people involved in the drama might know this already and just are going along with the plan anyways - meanwhile GC readerbase is going nuts with anger and hate for Tony.

*gets some coffee to maintain awakeness*

[thesaddestface]

What?

[Gotolei]

I wonder if this is permanent (well also about the nature of the whole thing in general, but anyways). Was the hair actually significant? Does she have it stored away somewhere? Would Annie and fire-thing be able to merge back together at some point in the future, presumably after the former having judged that she's led a fulfilling-enough life?

I was kind of under the impression that she'd come to terms with the whole dying-after-firstborn thing, but now I'm not so sure.
Or if she's even thinking about that. She's what, 15? Might be as simple as defying the father-figure.

[agasa]

Holy carp, Tom, you never fail to amaze.

Jun 26, 2015 7:16:48 GMT youwiththeface said:

I don't know man, I'm almost getting the vibe of an anorexic looking in the mirror and being happy at how many ribs s/he can count.

That was my feeling, that I couldn't quite put into words.

[temnoc]

Jun 26, 2015 7:03:25 GMT Refugee said:

Yay! Now Annie can have Renard's baby without dying young!


...Well, she could.

Say, look at that! I'm not the only one who ships 'em!

[calpal]

You know, that conspiratorial theory I had would've been a lot less interesting than this one, I will give you that.  I was very convinced that it had to be someone/something physical, if only because she said 'come down now', not 'reveal yourself'.  So with all that being said... WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!

And it CERTAINLY doesn't help that her smile is making this whole situation creepier by the second... seriously, stop that.

But seriously, what the hell.  I'm not sure whether I want the next chapter to focus on this or be upbeat, but at some point I'd like for these shenanigans to be explained.  Was it Tony's plan to separate the elemental, or did Annie somehow achieve this on her own, with her own ideas in the works?  If she grows her hair, does the elemental regain her connection and will that allow it to finally "re-merge" with Annie?  It almost looks like the elemental is trying to claw its way back towards Annie, which seems equally vicious as separating it in the first place.

Oh boy, this is a lot to take in...

[elcheeso]

So... this makes Annie the Sneak?

[hypixion]

Jun 26, 2015 10:09:42 GMT temnoc said:

Jun 26, 2015 7:03:25 GMT Refugee said:

Yay! Now Annie can have Renard's baby without dying young!


...Well, she could.

Say, look at that! I'm not the only one who ships 'em!

nope

[calpal]

Jun 26, 2015 10:25:08 GMT elcheeso said:

So... this makes Annie the Sneak?

I think there's a lot of sneakiness going on in this chapter:

 - Kat, George and Smitty sneak into Tony's house to find Reynard;
 - Tony is sneaky about not revealing his work;
 - DONNIE seems to have a bit of a sneakiness to his own work, as well;
 - Annie sneaked a fire elemental in her room

It's just one big giant sneak-fest in this chapter.

[youwiththeface]

Jun 26, 2015 9:07:50 GMT basser said:

-snip-

Okay, this is probably a stupid question, but I didn't see any mention of it in your post so I'll ask: have you pursued the idea of psychiatric help and medication? I am in no way any kind of doctor, but I have experience with both psychologists and psychiatrists, and how you describe your experiences with drugs makes me wonder about the possibility that something may be chemically afflicting you and that you could maybe look into that probability? If you haven't already. 

[strainofthought]

All I can say is, I think Anthony is playing with fire. And he's already got burned once.

[justcurious]

Well, all we can be sure of is that Annie is not as much beaten down and under her father's control as it appeared she was. Not as much does not mean not at all. I think she really was in the first encounter with Tony during and after her first class. But she must have recovered somewhat after leaving him. Enough to make a plan.
This does make sense. If the abuse had affected her as thoroughly as it appeared then it would realistically have taken years for her to recover. This would have made the story drag.
But now we have a lot of questions. Just what has Annie done to herself? How much power does her father have over her? How accurately does she see him?

[basser]

Jun 26, 2015 10:28:30 GMT hypixion said:

Jun 26, 2015 10:09:42 GMT temnoc said:

Say, look at that! I'm not the only one who ships 'em!

nope

So you're both so obsessed with sex that you see absolutely nothing wrong with perverting the loving quasi-paternal emotional bond between a fox and a young girl for no reason beyond satisfying your own voyeuristic carnal urges. Great. Maybe keep that to yourselves.

Jun 26, 2015 10:35:59 GMT youwiththeface said:

Jun 26, 2015 9:07:50 GMT basser said:

-snip-

Okay, this is probably a stupid question, but I didn't see any mention of it in your post so I'll ask: have you pursued the idea of psychiatric help and medication? I am in no way any kind of doctor, but I have experience with both psychologists and psychiatrists, and how you describe your experiences with drugs makes me wonder about the possibility that something may be chemically afflicting you and that you could maybe look into that probability? If you haven't already. 

Severe ADHD and a thyroid-based autoimmune condition. Possibly the two are related. By "afford" to be high I didn't exactly mean in the monetary sense - I get monthly prescriptions of amphetamine which is filled free of charge on medicaid. So more or less the government is giving me speed. I find the inherent metaphor rather poignant.

In any case I'm currently studying physics and biology with the intent of moving on to pursue a PhD in neuroscience, whereupon I aim to research and develop an effective ADHD treatment that doesn't involve hard stimulants, because quite frankly I'm sick of being on speed all the time. The irony of my success in school relying almost entirely on the very drug I hope to eliminate is not lost on me.

[justcurious]

Has anyone noticed that the elemental part of Annie is forming a part circle round her like the circle of the cut through her her hair? I don't know the significance of this yet but I think it is important.
I'm guessing that the has partially separated this part of herself to protect it. The way she asked it to come down suggests that she was saying that there wasn't any danger. Which suggests that she may recognize her father as a danger and be doing what she can to protect herself from him. And that she feels that she has to hide her self-protective actions even from her friends.

[madragoran]

Jun 26, 2015 11:04:22 GMT basser said:

Jun 26, 2015 10:28:30 GMT hypixion said:

nope

So you're both so obsessed with sex that you see absolutely nothing wrong with perverting the loving quasi-paternal emotional bond between a fox and a young girl for no reason beyond satisfying your own voyeuristic carnal urges. Great. Maybe keep that to yourselves.

snip

This. is. why. we. can. not. have. nice. things.

thanks basser for being succint.

[Nepycros]

Good.

Not good.

[donna]

Well.... No hairspray for Annie!

[justcurious]

Jun 26, 2015 11:47:48 GMT madragoran said:

Jun 26, 2015 11:04:22 GMT basser said:

So you're both so obsessed with sex that you see absolutely nothing wrong with perverting the loving quasi-paternal emotional bond between a fox and a young girl for no reason beyond satisfying your own voyeuristic carnal urges. Great. Maybe keep that to yourselves.

snip

This. is. why. we. can. not. have. nice. things.

thanks basser for being succint.

Add me to the anti-shipping brigade and for the same reason.

[Lightice]

Wild Mass Guessing time: Anthony tested the same process on himself before returning to cut the elemental off Annie. He is so detached and emotionless because he cut off the part of his soul where his higher emotions reside. And he hadn't yet perfected it, hence the physical scars and missing hand.