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Post by Trillium on Jul 22, 2015 12:45:29 GMT
Donald has a plan, it involves the blinker stone and he thinks it will only take 10 minutes to set up. I have no idea what will happens next. Blink!
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Post by alexsl on Jul 22, 2015 12:51:04 GMT
First thought: Confused. Several people have speculated that the rage/fire is bound to the blinker, but it feels here as if it isn't. Surely she wouldn't give the stone away if it carried half her personality, and surely she wouldn't pull it out if that released the rage/fire. Then why was the stone ever in it? Elementie probably had the stone to be able to communicate with Annie when she's away. Okay, that might make sense. Doesn't seem to be very talkative though. |
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Post by artezzatrigger on Jul 22, 2015 12:56:09 GMT
Donald has a plan, it involves the blinker stone and he thinks it will only take 10 minutes to set up. I have no idea what will happens next. Blink! I'd imagine the ten minutes is just the time he needs to get to where Anthony's house is and start asking him questions. ...Or to get him drunk, if the bottle in his hand is any indication. At any rate, the elementals reaction on this page seems to indicate that it wants to stay hidden as much as Annie herself would want it to. We probably don't have to worry about it causing a ruckus for now. |
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Post by Daedalus on Jul 22, 2015 14:07:58 GMT
Donald is holding the bottle from the chapter icon. Given that fact, perhaps he intends to show her the friendlier side of her father that she never usually sees. But I think that may backfire... |
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Post by Deepbluediver on Jul 22, 2015 14:13:22 GMT
I'm confused- is this before or after the dinner party? It seems like it should be after, but I'm notoriously bad at figuring things out in-comic.
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Post by Kitty Hamilton on Jul 22, 2015 14:28:06 GMT
First thought: Confused. Several people have speculated that the rage/fire is bound to the blinker, but it feels here as if it isn't. Surely she wouldn't give the stone away if it carried half her personality, and surely she wouldn't pull it out if that released the rage/fire. Then why was the stone ever in it? Yeah. This is the second thing I'm completely lost on with the Fire/Annie relationship. It reminded me of the first - where did the playful/conniving Annie who was wearing her fire at the end of last chapter go? How is this whole experience connected to that? I feel like the Annie/Fire/Blinker relationship, especially since we are getting introduced to it Pulp Fiction style, has still got a lot to explain and got me all sorts of confused. At the end of last chapter, I saw a girl who was still in control. I don't see that at all right now. See, at the end of that chapter, I think we were seeing the exact opposite of Annie being in control. In my view, she didn't say "That went quite well, I think!" because what happened at the dinner was part of a grand plan. She said it because, without her passions and emotions, she genuinely felt that way. Without a connection to her fiery, angry side, she acts like everything is fine even when it isn't. In the same panel where Annie is calmly stating that everything went well, the fire spirit looks furious, cut off, and in pain. That's probably what Annie would be feeling then if she was still whole. |
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Post by nero on Jul 22, 2015 16:10:28 GMT
What is Renard going to think when he sees two Annies? I don't think Annie's going to be okay with whatever she hears, but its good that Donald has her be in on his plan.
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Ender
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Post by Ender on Jul 22, 2015 16:50:10 GMT
I'm pretty sure her fire elemental half is still in the blinker stone, she's just hiding herself. I'm worried what's going to happen during the ensuing conversation. What if Tony says something that enrages fire Annie and she stops hiding herself and does something? Tom seems to have set things up perfectly for something like that to happen.
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Post by ctso74 on Jul 22, 2015 17:09:26 GMT
Even if Tony and Donny can't see the etheric form, will Renard be able to? I don't see why not, assuming she appears within Renard's line of sight. What is Renard going to think when he sees two Annies? I'm thinking Renard must already know of the split. The last flashback cut off abruptly(pun intended), before she told Rey about her father. Maybe, we're about to get another flashback from Renard's POV, set right after the division. Either way, it will be interesting to see Anthony in another light, and hopefully illuminating to see him in the Ether. I've been itching to see him in the Ether. Is he grey like Rey's old body? Scarred? Misshapened? Or something very different? |
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Post by Trillium on Jul 22, 2015 17:32:30 GMT
Donald has a plan, it involves the blinker stone and he thinks it will only take 10 minutes to set up. I have no idea what will happens next. Blink! I'd imagine the ten minutes is just the time he needs to get to where Anthony's house is and start asking him questions. ...Or to get him drunk, if the bottle in his hand is any indication. At any rate, the elementals reaction on this page seems to indicate that it wants to stay hidden as much as Annie herself would want it to. We probably don't have to worry about it causing a ruckus for now. Donald can do that thing where he walks through walls and take short cuts. As for what he can do with Anthony in about 9 minutes is beyond me unless he hits him in the dead with the bottle. Perhaps it is a welcome back gift and the lead in to a long conversation. Hope Annie does not get bored easily. Or Anthony has invited Donald over and is expecting him to come through a wall. Tony could have some experiment to show Don. |
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Sadie
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I eat food and sleep in a horizontal position.
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Post by Sadie on Jul 22, 2015 18:34:46 GMT
Wow, all right. So; In the flashback, Annie cuts her hair while holding the blinker stone in one hand and declaring "I can't deal with you right now". We return to the present time to see the Fire stuck in the White Room with the blinker stone glowing at her 'heart'. Thus: Annie attached her intense emotions to the blinker stone so she isn't affected by them no matter how hurt, angry, or upset the situation is making her. (Internalization; fun for the whole family!) In this page, Annie calls the blinker stone to her hand. It arrives there (visibly) sans fire. We see a panel of the Fire clinging to the ceiling right before Annie calls the stone. Is the Fire still in the stone? Did Annie remove the Fire from the blinker stone and back into herself? Was Annie able to pluck the stone out of the Fire, leaving her embodied emotions to roam free about the room? SPECULATION(S):
1) The Fire is still locked to the blinker stone, but Annie doesn't really see letting it out and about as a problem, since it's completely harmless when in the stone. This opens up the question, then, of why she keeps it in her room instead of carrying it around with her. Possible answer; the closer Annie is to her Fire, the more chance it has of breaking free and affecting her. And/or, so she doesn't have to constantly focus on keeping it from raging around her and etherically flipping it's shit at everything all day.
When she looks through the stone, it will require connecting with the Fire and seeing/hearing whatever goes down at her father's place with emotions fully intact. I think she would be way more reluctant to go through with Donny's request if that were the case.
2) Annie reconnected to her cut-off emotions in order to pass on the blinker stone. Since she spends most of her time disconnected from them, it's gotten easier for her to keep them completely controlled when they're "unrepressed", so to speak. She doesn't expect anyone else to come visit her at this time and she can always call the stone instantly back to displace her Fire again if she starts to lose control.
I find this one more unlikely than the above, though still a possibility.
3) Annie unhooked the Fire from the stone and said Fire is now etherically loose in the room. In this case, the stone is not a bottle or cage, but an anchor. Annie metaphorically and thus literally (because ether!), cut off her emotions, but didn't discard them entirely. Note the way the Fire's cut-off-hair continues to float along and move in conjunction with the part still attached to her head; so too would the Fire move along with the rest of Annie if she didn't anchor it to -- or rather, through -- the blinker stone.
In short, the stone doesn't really matter. Both the blinker stone and the scissors were tools to help Annie create her state, but are not needed to maintain it. This is the one I think most likely.
Otherwise -- of everything I could have imagined to happen next in the story, Mr. Donlan appearing out of the blue to help Annie spy on her father is no where on the list. I must say, he's clearly an old hat at taking the backdoor approach. You know, being the sort to literally carry about a portable door for sneaking out the back way when the situation warrants it. I'm super intrigued, that his solution/approach is not only to soften up Anthony, but to ensure that Annie will be hearing the results of this directly from the horses mouth. He has realized that Annie wouldn't believe anything about her father that was filtered through someone else --- but he's taking it on faith that whatever Tony has to say is GOOD for Annie to hear. For all Donny knows, the first words out of liquored up Tony's mouth could be something to the tune of "I hate that child, that parasite that sucked away my wife's life" or even some Court related secret that Annie genuinely shouldn't be knowing. I mean, I'm all for Annie getting a more realistic view of her father, no matter how terrible, but that... that could go really bad. |
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Post by youwiththeface on Jul 22, 2015 18:43:11 GMT
Second: Slightly disappointed by Donald's character here, actually. Okay, (not having read Divine) he cannot know that Anthony tried to amputate the fire elemental heritage out of his own daughter without asking for her informed consent, nor can anybody know how precisely Antimony would react to learning about this. But he knows that there is a history of her blowing her lid when learning upsetting information that has been withheld from her, and he must suspect that whatever Anthony's secret is it might well be very upsetting for her. Just letting her listen in, without even somebody there to support her, seems like a bad idea. I wouldn't count out the possibility that Donny knows that he could do something like that. I think that Donny believes Annie's perspective on things might change if she actually knew her father a little better, if she could see him for what he is, and I think that's what Donlan's trying to facilitate. |
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Post by Jelly Jellybean on Jul 22, 2015 19:39:50 GMT
I'm confused- is this before or after the dinner party? It seems like it should be after, but I'm notoriously bad at figuring things out in-comic. This is at least one day after the dinner party. After the dinner party we saw Tony leave Annie at her room where she told her fire elemental that it was clear to come out. The next thing we saw was Annie leavng for class followed by the flashback. Now Annie just returned from class when Donnie showed up. So it is either the next day or some number of days after the dinner party. |
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Post by youwiththeface on Jul 22, 2015 20:31:01 GMT
Yeah. This is the second thing I'm completely lost on with the Fire/Annie relationship. It reminded me of the first - where did the playful/conniving Annie who was wearing her fire at the end of last chapter go? How is this whole experience connected to that? I feel like the Annie/Fire/Blinker relationship, especially since we are getting introduced to it Pulp Fiction style, has still got a lot to explain and got me all sorts of confused. At the end of last chapter, I saw a girl who was still in control. I don't see that at all right now. See, at the end of that chapter, I think we were seeing the exact opposite of Annie being in control. In my view, she didn't say "That went quite well, I think!" because what happened at the dinner was part of a grand plan. She said it because, without her passions and emotions, she genuinely felt that way. Without a connection to her fiery, angry side, she acts like everything is fine even when it isn't. In the same panel where Annie is calmly stating that everything went well, the fire spirit looks furious, cut off, and in pain. That's probably what Annie would be feeling then if she was still whole. This exactly. The contrast between what Annie was saying and what we saw and what we were seeing when she said it felt like the tip off to me. |
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Post by matoyak on Jul 22, 2015 20:42:58 GMT
At the end of last chapter, I saw a girl who was still in control. I don't see that at all right now. The last time we saw Annie in control was a few chapters ago. The past two chapters she definitely was not. |
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Post by TBeholder on Jul 22, 2015 21:32:35 GMT
In the flashback, Annie cuts her hair while holding the blinker stone in one hand and declaring "I can't deal with you right now". We return to the present time to see the Fire stuck in the White Room with the blinker stone glowing at her 'heart'. Thus: Annie attached her intense emotions to the blinker stone so she isn't affected by them no matter how hurt, angry, or upset the situation is making her. No, thus Annie attached her elemental side to the blinker stone, so she could separate it. Is the Fire still in the stone? Did Annie remove the Fire from the blinker stone and back into herself? Was Annie able to pluck the stone out of the Fire, leaving her embodied emotions to roam free about the room? We have seen it roaming over the room already. But why would it ever be in the stone? Possible answer; the closer Annie is to her Fire, the more chance it has of breaking free and affecting her. And/or, so she doesn't have to constantly focus on keeping it from raging around her and etherically flipping it's shit at everything all day. Was the whole point? I think she would be way more reluctant to go through with Donny's request if that were the case. Why? Annie somehow reconnected with it before leaving and probably was about to do it again anyway when Donald walked in. And she somehow managed not to flip out before separation. Annie can handle this, even if not easily. It's just that she wants to walk around without wrestling with herself all the time. but he's taking it on faith that whatever Tony has to say is GOOD for Annie to hear. For all Donny knows, the first words out of liquored up Tony's mouth could be something to the tune of "I hate that child, that parasite that sucked away my wife's life" or even some Court related secret that Annie genuinely shouldn't be knowing. Yes, but where Tony is concerned, in absence of any input Donald seems to fall back to wishful thinking. Just like... almost everyone else does.  But also, remember that all Donald could see is numb "desperate" Annie. Thus he may think it's a win-win scenario: either Annie sees that her father still loves her and gets better, or faces unpleasant truth, gets over it, stops being needy daddy's girl and gets better. The possibility that Annie is like this on purpose, as an artificial measure preventing her from struggling to not vaporize stuff every waking moment is... less than obvious. |
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Post by dramastix on Jul 22, 2015 22:14:20 GMT
but he's taking it on faith that whatever Tony has to say is GOOD for Annie to hear. For all Donny knows, the first words out of liquored up Tony's mouth could be something to the tune of "I hate that child, that parasite that sucked away my wife's life" or even some Court related secret that Annie genuinely shouldn't be knowing. Yes, but where Tony is concerned, in absence of any input Donald seems to fall back to wishful thinking. Just like... almost everyone else does. But also, remember that all Donald could see is numb "desperate" Annie. Thus he may think it's a win-win scenario: either Annie sees that her father still loves her and gets better, or faces unpleasant truth, gets over it, stops being needy daddy's girl and gets better. The possibility that Annie is like this on purpose, as an artificial measure preventing her from struggling to not vaporize stuff every waking moment is... less than obvious. Thanks for obliterating my faith in Donald's implacable awesomeness. Now I'm worried that Annie is going to get more bad news that sends her off into a deeper spiral. Though I was thinking that body-Annie wouldn't be able to see through the stone at all if she separated out her etheric side and ensconced it within the stone, which would leave fire-Annie to view the ensuing scene without any sort of filter and hijinks commence. But the fact that Annie can still conjure the stone makes me think that maybe she will be able to see through. I don't know. Hoping there is at the very least a little conversation with Renard now. |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Jul 22, 2015 23:33:39 GMT
"Give me ten minutes, then look through it." (By then it will be in the soap dish of your dad's shower and you will be able to see exactly every scar he has.) And the bottle? It has brain bleach for later... No, that's how Donald is getting into the shower... heh... I wonder what Donald wants Annie to listen in on. I'm guessing he's in Annie's corner at the moment? Maybe he plans to get Anthony drunk and therefore be more talkative? Can you get drunk in ten minutes, though? Oh good lord yes. It used to be popular in my old neighborhood to shoot a regional grain alcohol (because if you just drank the stuff your throat would close up and you couldn't get it down) and then wash it down with the municipality's pride mass-produced beer to keep the hard stuff from literally eating away our stomachs... and to tell you (or some people anyway) how long ago this was the bottle of 750ml 190 cost $6US and the six-pak cost around $2.30. You and three friends could get drunk in way under ten minutes for under ten dollars and still have half of that bottle of alcohol for next time. And just to illustrate the point I saw someone get drunk in under sixty seconds in college once without the fancy alcohol mists and beer bongs kids have today. He chugged the last three or four fingers of a liter of the pure stuff and then became temporarily blind and rolled around on the floor holding his head; he spent the night hiding in a closet from the light like dracula, moaning like a damned soul and screeching whenever someone cracked the door to check on him. Seriously, I assume the bottle contains "good stuff" with which Donald will get Anthony to talk about his work where he doesn't have an excuse about talking in front of other people (Renard may not count). Hopefully we'll have confirmation on the "bonelasers" incident one way or another. |
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Post by rafk on Jul 23, 2015 3:59:52 GMT
I assume Donald will ask Tony about the stuff that Tony basically said "I can't talk about work in front of the kids" about.
Either that or this is a trap for Tony and Donny to catch Annie's fire elemental as part of their work for the Court.
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Post by alexsl on Jul 23, 2015 5:18:39 GMT
but he's taking it on faith that whatever Tony has to say is GOOD for Annie to hear. For all Donny knows, the first words out of liquored up Tony's mouth could be something to the tune of "I hate that child, that parasite that sucked away my wife's life" or even some Court related secret that Annie genuinely shouldn't be knowing. This! This is why I find DD's behaviour a bit disappointing. He has consistently been characterised as (1) kind and (2) extremely intelligent; the way he dealt with Antimony in Microsat 5 also showcased lots of emotional intelligence (as he would have needed to stay friends with Tony and Eglamore at the same time). And now he lets her listen in, unfiltered, not knowing what upsetting details her father may spill, and does not seem to be worried about the possibility of finding her entire room reduced to fine white ash when he sees it next? Seems odd. --- I am fairly sure that the "ten minutes" are the time he needs to walk there - she is supposed to listen in from when he gets there. |
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Post by SilverbackRon on Jul 23, 2015 6:45:56 GMT
"You want to borrow my blinker stone? Sure. Oh wait, you are putting it in the front pocket of your trousers? Then I guess I should tell you it holds a rage filled fire elemental. Have a pleasant evening, Mr. Donlan."
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Post by TBeholder on Jul 23, 2015 7:48:30 GMT
Hopefully we'll have confirmation on the "bonelasers" incident one way or another. They'll get drunk enough to see head-pigeons? "You want to borrow my blinker stone? Sure. Oh wait, you are putting it in the front pocket of your trousers? Then I guess I should tell you it holds a rage filled fire elemental. Have a pleasant evening, Mr. Donlan." He seems to know what he's doing and doesn't ask questions, so technically she doesn't have to.  |
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Post by keef on Jul 23, 2015 8:28:58 GMT
What could go wrong? Or better: please let something go wrong, so this whole situation explodes.  |
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Post by fish on Jul 23, 2015 9:23:21 GMT
[...] Slightly disappointed by Donald's character here, actually. Okay, (not having read Divine) he cannot know that Anthony tried to amputate the fire elemental heritage out of his own daughter without asking for her informed consent, nor can anybody know how precisely Antimony would react to learning about this. But he knows that there is a history of her blowing her lid when learning upsetting information that has been withheld from her, and he must suspect that whatever Anthony's secret is it might well be very upsetting for her. Just letting her listen in, without even somebody there to support her, seems like a bad idea. I was surprised at that as well. This seems like quite the gamble Donny is planning. Does he think however Annie will feel after she listened in on this conversation, it can't be worse than the damage that has already been done? Anyway, anyone else excited to see Tony's ether-form? Is he going to be a normal, boring grey, or did his dealings in Divine leave some sort of ethereal mark? |
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quark
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Post by quark on Jul 23, 2015 9:53:01 GMT
but he's taking it on faith that whatever Tony has to say is GOOD for Annie to hear. For all Donny knows, the first words out of liquored up Tony's mouth could be something to the tune of "I hate that child, that parasite that sucked away my wife's life" or even some Court related secret that Annie genuinely shouldn't be knowing. This! This is why I find DD's behaviour a bit disappointing. He has consistently been characterised as (1) kind and (2) extremely intelligent; the way he dealt with Antimony in Microsat 5 also showcased lots of emotional intelligence (as he would have needed to stay friends with Tony and Eglamore at the same time). And now he lets her listen in, unfiltered, not knowing what upsetting details her father may spill, and does not seem to be worried about the possibility of finding her entire room reduced to fine white ash when he sees it next? Seems odd. I think it speaks for how much Donald still is Anthony's friend, and how much he believes in him. He managed to spin something very negative (Anthony contacting him through Annie, without any regard/message for Annie herself) into something at least a little bit positive (Anthony wanted to hear her voice... Which she takes as Donald intended. Not 'everything's about Anthony, even Annie's voice' but 'he wanted to hear her voice! he still loves her!'.) I'm not sure anybody else could have done it, or even would have wanted to. I think he hopes that Anthony shows a more 'human' side of himself, his feelings concerning Annie, or his reason for being absent (helping Annie), giving her a bit more perspective on her father and helping them work on a better relationship. Donald's the only one who constantly sided with Anthony and Annie both, and I think he genuinely believes in giving Annie insight into her father's emotions. |
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Post by pxc on Jul 23, 2015 14:42:43 GMT
Serious Donald has no pupils, just blank glasses.
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Post by TBeholder on Jul 23, 2015 16:39:57 GMT
I was surprised at that as well. This seems like quite the gamble Donny is planning. Does he think however Annie will feel after she listened in on this conversation, it can't be worse than the damage that has already been done? Why not? Annie made the situation seem bad enough that the only way is up. Anyway, anyone else excited to see Tony's ether-form? Is he going to be a normal, boring grey, or did his dealings in Divine leave some sort of ethereal mark? You mean, does he have a big purple spirit-bruise, much like Annie's cut? Would be amusing. But it's not the only thing a brief contact with Zimmy could give him. |
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Post by scottjm on Jul 23, 2015 17:07:41 GMT
I was surprised at that as well. This seems like quite the gamble Donny is planning. Does he think however Annie will feel after she listened in on this conversation, it can't be worse than the damage that has already been done? Why not? Annie made the situation seem bad enough that the only way is up. Annie has not hit rock bottom yet, she is probably close, but not all the way there. |
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Jul 23, 2015 21:56:48 GMT
Hopefully we'll have confirmation on the "bonelasers" incident one way or another. They'll get drunk enough to see head-pigeons? If that's the good stuff they could get drunk enough to be head-pigeons. What could go wrong? Or better: please let something go wrong, so this whole situation explodes. Okay, so Donald wants Antimony to see with her own (etheric) eyes her dad's hidden other side that actually wants to say he loves her. In theory he'll get Anthony boozed up, he'll spill his guts, Antimony will be reassured, and the day will be saved. It would be nice if that happened. I'm thinking at the very least Antimony will learn she caused his injuries. So: Spying with a blinker stone is not recommended. Spying on your parent(s) with a blinker stone while they're tying one on and talking about you is a good way to cause emotional scarring. |
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Post by kalechibki on Jul 23, 2015 22:08:09 GMT
My concern is that the blinker stone links the two aspects of Annie. Can Anniemental re-bond if Donnie-D has the stone? If not, what effects will it have? So you think Anniemental is still there, but without the bliker stone? I think it just went inside the blinker stone or something. though I'm just guessing, as we can't claim to know we understand the mechanics of the separation (at all) Upon closer examination...I think that whatever purpose the blinker stone served, it wasn't to "swallow" or "contain" in any sense we would understand the Fire Elemental. In panel five, there are three lines, and then in panel 6, four inverted lines around the blinker stone. I would guess this is the blinker stone disappearing and reappearing. I have no idea what it means, other than to say, the fire isn't in the blinker stone. See, at the end of that chapter, I think we were seeing the exact opposite of Annie being in control. In my view, she didn't say "That went quite well, I think!" because what happened at the dinner was part of a grand plan. She said it because, without her passions and emotions, she genuinely felt that way. Without a connection to her fiery, angry side, she acts like everything is fine even when it isn't. In the same panel where Annie is calmly stating that everything went well, the fire spirit looks furious, cut off, and in pain. That's probably what Annie would be feeling then if she was still whole. This exactly. The contrast between what Annie was saying and what we saw and what we were seeing when she said it felt like the tip off to me. I think I have to disagree about her lack of control. I know what she said to Kat seems to suggest it, but there are some clear instances of her being very in control. She says here to Anthony that she gave Renard to him, yet here when Kat is talking to Rey, Annie clearly gave Rey to Kat. And she knows this in her "de-fired" state because she DID it in her de-fired state (the last two day's of comic proved that she did that when she cut her hair). Also, Annie didn't tell her father when Kat, Smitty and Parley broke into his apartment to talk to Rey. She could have, but she didn't. She isn't a simple automaton here. And when she came back from the party, she's really happy to see her fire side. Happier than we have seen her since the split. And that brings me back to the end of the last chapter, her quote "That went quite well, I think." I think the "That" is not the party, but given the tenor of the whole chapter - the deceit. No one has a clue about her fire side. No one. And that's how I think Annie thinks she will solve this whole problem. Annie has always tried to fly solo when solving problems, and the primary reason just came back - and he created the very reason she cut off the fire side in the first place. And just to address the Donny situation, I think that Donny knew this step would take place. While Donny can't predict everyone's behavior, I don't think he's so stupid or naive that if things go REALLY wrong, he wouldn't get Anja to Annie. I also can see him going back right after his conversation. And unless he also has taken Anja's blinker stone, how else could anyone else hear this conversation? |
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