[2298] " ...out of your hands."

[imaginaryfriend]

Get it? Because he took it out of her hands.

[aline]

Well. I never thought just handing the water to Loup was a good idea, but I doubt the Court will do a better job of negotiating with him. He was only willing to talk with Antimony because he likes her.

[Igniz]

Hey, at least they'll let the Annies accompany them.

[arf]

'Let', or 'require'?

[madjack]

Seeing as he's one of the shadow men, maybe Anthony can provide some insight into where this is going...

Edit: Or Juliette too, I suppose.

[theonethatgotaway]

Quick idea of how the planning of Hubris Court Security Inc. would go: "So then we say we want to meet him at location X, for the hand-off, right?" "Yes, and that's when you guys hit him with the Ether-Beam right there." "Oh boy, that plan could never go wrong! High-fives all around!"

[bicarbonat]

If Loup eats one of these agents during the hand-off, I will neck a bottle of roscato.

[imaginaryfriend]

Ladies and gentlemen, in tonight's performance the role of Bowser Koopa will be played by Aata, and the role of Peach Toadstool will be played by a small jar of water. Admission tickets and suggested donations are not refundable.  I say again, not refundable.

[jda]

Well, seems like Aata got thirsty...

Yeah, I bet the Court's gonna craft some experiments with the vial of Eau de Coyote(TM). Would be hilarious if that was exactly what Loupyote wants, to be freed in the depth of the Court's labs, to be nearer the source of cant-see-sh**t-in-the-Ether (in the presence of Kat?)

[pyradonis]

Apr 29, 2020 8:12:57 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

Ladies and gentlemen, in tonight's performance the role of Bowser Koopa will be played by Aata, and the role of Peach Toadstool will be played by a small jar of water. Admission tickets and suggested donations are not refundable.  I say again, not refundable.

I feel the sudden urge to open a graphics program and try out different hats on Aata.

EDIT: And acted upon it.

[imaginaryfriend]

Apr 29, 2020 9:38:11 GMT pyradonis said:

I feel the sudden urge to open a graphics program and try out different hats on Aata.

I'm going to continue with my theme. Speaking of which, don't worry, our heroes are going to do something about this situation with the water.

[wies]

Apr 29, 2020 10:40:13 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

Apr 29, 2020 9:38:11 GMT pyradonis said:

I feel the sudden urge to open a graphics program and try out different hats on Aata.

I'm going to continue with my theme. Speaking of which, don't worry, our heroes are going to do something about this situation with the water.

"It's-a Me, Annie!"
"And it's-a Me, Annie!"


But yeah, pretty sure that "You may accompany us" translates as "We still need you to enter the Forest safely".

[speedwell]

Because what we all need is duplicate Shell and Aata.

[imaginaryfriend]

Apr 29, 2020 11:39:10 GMT speedwell said:

Because what we all need is duplicate Shell and Aata.

After thinking it over, I believe I might need that.

[Jelly Jellybean]

Apr 29, 2020 7:20:25 GMT theonethatgotaway said:

Quick idea of how the planning of Hubris Court Security Inc. would go: "So then we say we want to meet him at location X, for the hand-off, right?" "Yes, and that's when you guys hit him with the Ether-Beam right there." "Oh boy, that plan could never go wrong! High-fives all around!"

That isn't just a bottle of Coyote lake water, it's bait.  Including the Annies makes it better bait.

[rafk]

For those of you who have only been reading the comic for the last, say, 5 real life years this is an example of why the rest of us consider the Court to be high-handed arrogant dicks.

[Polyhymnia]

I’m sensing a repeat of this moment:
www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1568

[migrantworker]

Hmm, but can we stop for a moment and think whether Annie(s) really is the best person to deal with Loup or not? And if she is not, then why would the Court give her its blessing and assistance when she does not have any official standing within that particular organisation - instead of selecting a more suitable person from within its own ranks? And if a better person is found but Annie(s) try to get in the way of the Court's nominee, would it be anything more than a power play on their part?

[pyradonis]

Apr 29, 2020 14:48:59 GMT migrantworker said:

Hmm, but can we stop for a moment and think whether Annie(s) really is the best person to deal with Loup or not? And if she is not, then why would the Court give her its blessing and assistance when she does not have any official standing within that particular organisation - instead of selecting a more suitable person from within its own ranks? And if a better person is found but Annie(s) try to get in the way of the Court's nominee, would it be anything more than a power play on their part?

Does Loup want to talk to anyone else besides Annie? In my opinion, the best person (of those we have been introduced to) would be Jones. And last time she went to the Forest, Loup threw her into space.

[migrantworker]

Apr 29, 2020 16:03:16 GMT pyradonis said:

Apr 29, 2020 14:48:59 GMT migrantworker said:

Hmm, but can we stop for a moment and think whether Annie(s) really is the best person to deal with Loup or not? And if she is not, then why would the Court give her its blessing and assistance when she does not have any official standing within that particular organisation - instead of selecting a more suitable person from within its own ranks? And if a better person is found but Annie(s) try to get in the way of the Court's nominee, would it be anything more than a power play on their part?

Does Loup want to talk to anyone else besides Annie? In my opinion, the best person (of those we have been introduced to) would be Jones. And last time she went to the Forest, Loup threw her into space.

He may not want to talk to anybody else, but dealing with does not need to be restricted to talking.

[Gemini Jim]

Well, in case we've forgotten, we still haven't seen the Planes, Trains and Automobiles picture from the title page.


Maybe Loup will send Annie back to the past during the nothing-can-possibly-go-wrong handover?

Or maybe the flashback starts now?

[Sky Schemer]

The Court has been around for a very long time. I think we need to at least entertain the possibility that they actually have a real plan with a reasonable chance of success.

[ctso74]

Apr 29, 2020 12:31:59 GMT rafk said:

For those of you who have only been reading the comic for the last, say, 5 real life years this is an example of why the rest of us consider the Court to be high-handed arrogant dicks.

My first thoughts on the comic were: "Man, why does he have to be such a tool about it, though?... Oh right."

If Aata and the entourage are there, when Loup gets the Water, then they'll be able to converse with the "piece" of Coyote. I wonder, if they play a part in Coyote's "wonderful plan"?
Typing this out, I realized that "Aata and the Entourage" would be a great band name. Now, I can't stop thinking of them in some Court-sanctioned battle of the bands. They ultimately lose to the Daft Punk cover duo, KATony.

[imaginaryfriend]

Apr 29, 2020 20:12:16 GMT Sky Schemer said:

The Court has been around for a very long time. I think we need to at least entertain the possibility that they actually have a real plan with a reasonable chance of success.

That's possible. They may have more interest in examining the sample then they did before the attack, but they had some time with it then and probably ran whatever cursory tests they could. One would think that they'd have more interest now, and they've had some time to think of more tests they could run, but my sneaking suspicion is that they don't really care about it; they'd be happy to give the gifts to "Loup" if he goes away and leaves them alone after that. If they really are getting ready for something big it's something that they are choosing to do with the knowledge that their time here close to the ether may be limited and they don't want anyone mucking it up.

I think it's more about lack of confidence in Antimonies than science or strategy. To be fair, they've got reason to believe Antimonies need supervision. Maybe Courtnie has been well-behaved and useful post-evac but Fannie is (kinda) regressed-Courtnie, closer to her rule-breaking days.  Most importantly, even though they're both real as far as anyone can tell "Loup" could have tinkered with one or both.

From the Court's perspective Fannie has just completed a step towards something that she was sent to do. If she's going to do something funny now might be the time. If there was something else in that building that could be used for mischief they might have wanted her searched.

But really, I suspect they just want to make sure things go as planned. They had someone along observing negotiations with the Anwyn. They probably want to do that again but more so.

...which is why the Antimonies clearly need to make an intricate plan made possible with gadgets from Kat to take the water back before the exchange. It's just common sense.

[avurai]

I like the little detail of Eglamore’s beard being the same color that his head-hair was when he was a teenager.

Random thing to notice, but I enjoy stuff like that. It’s a weird thing that happens in real life that most artists wouldn’t think to include in their character designs.

[todd]

I suspect that the Court might think that Annie's too sympathetic to the Forest-folk and other etheric beings, and might place their interests before the Court's in a negotiation.

[maxptc]

Look we don't think you've represented our interests very well, and don't say you don't know or we didn't explain them. Point is, now we are gonna do it our way, all sneaky and not telling someone whose part of the plan anything about the plan until the day of, if then. I know things will definitely go as planned and we know you'll represent our mysterious interests if that somehow doesn't happen.

[warrl]

Apr 29, 2020 23:49:30 GMT todd said:

I suspect that the Court might think that Annie's too sympathetic to the Forest-folk and other etheric beings, and might place their interests before the Court's in a negotiation.

Annie is the Forest's Medium - essentially their ambassador to the Court. It's her job to put the Forest-folks' interests above those of the Court.

What's not clear is where she stands relative to Loup. She was appointed to the position by Coyote, not Loup. She has valid reason to consider Loup's behavior inimical to the Forest-folk, and to Coyote. On the other hand she could regard Loup as Coyote's successor.

[IvDead]

Apr 30, 2020 0:52:45 GMT warrl said:

What's not clear is where she stands relative to Loup. She was appointed to the position by Coyote, not Loup. She has valid reason to consider Loup's behavior inimical to the Forest-folk, and to Coyote. On the other hand she could regard Loup as Coyote's successor.

That, but also how many people know that the water and the bone are part of a Coyote's plan that will lead to Loup's death? How many people even know why Annie is less in danger than anyone else when interacting with Loup? Because I kind of doubt Annie told many people about the former, let alone the latter*.



*Which makes sense considering the answer would be "Because Loup loves me", and I don't think Annie would want to add it to the pile of issues she is having to deal with right now.

But I'm curious if Court Annie knows about Loup's "love" for Antimony, as I don't remember any place explicitly showing that she knows of it.



Also, knowing about protagonist-oriented morality really takes away the enthusiasm of reading the comments on the page.

Sweet ignorance, how I miss you. /s

[wies]

Surprised to see so much comments on the page predicting doom for Aata and his gang. I actually think the Court has a pretty good chance of resolving this on their terms.
We haven't seen them do much in the comic, but if they do something, it tends to be pretty effective. Like they made the Arrow that did so much damage to realms and created a terrible watchghost, they kept tracking Anthony and when the time was right they did sent him back to reign Annie in, and they did develop technology that warded off the attack of a god.
The court knows their stuff.

The real question is if they succeed, will their terms be good ones to resolve on? I doubt it.