[2505] Distasteful

[theonethatgotaway]

Everyone fighting for their lives, others using Flower Power, and That Guy just being slightly annoyed. Nice page!

[bedinsis]

What's that blue triangle on the back of Annie's head in the last frame?

Edit: Never mind, it has been there since at least the first page of this chapter. I thought it might be related to this attack.

[madjack]

Hairclip? It's there in the rest of the chapter too, but we don't see the back of Annie's head a lot.

Edit: Aata with the save, time for Annie to Fire Up^TM.

Edit again: Actually, we do see the back of Annie's head a lot, it's just nobody apparently noticed until now?

[imaginaryfriend]

"Loup" should have taken out the healer first. Mistakes like that are bound to happen when you can't keep your head (maybe literally, in this case).

[V]

Aug 11, 2021 7:05:25 GMT madjack said:

Hairclip? It's there in the rest of the chapter too, but we don't see the back of Annie's head a lot.

Edit: Aata with the save, time for Annie to Fire Up^TM.

Edit again: Actually, we do see the back of Annie's head a lot, it's just nobody apparently noticed until now?

I remember it being discussed quite extensively following the opening page of the chapter.

[madjack]

Aug 11, 2021 7:47:25 GMT V said:

Aug 11, 2021 7:05:25 GMT madjack said:

Hairclip? It's there in the rest of the chapter too, but we don't see the back of Annie's head a lot.

Edit: Aata with the save, time for Annie to Fire Up^TM.

Edit again: Actually, we do see the back of Annie's head a lot, it's just nobody apparently noticed until now?

I remember it being discussed quite extensively following the opening page of the chapter.

Huh, it was. Ignore that last thought then.

[blahzor]

what figure is Aata or the current consensus

[imaginaryfriend]

Aug 11, 2021 7:54:40 GMT blahzor said:

what figure is Aata or the current consensus

Uri Geller. The bending spoon's a dead giveaway.

SPOILER: Click to show

I am joking. I don't think there's enough information to say if Aata is based on a "real" myth or if he is an OC. The best that can be done is to speculate based on his appearance and the imagery that appears when he uses his etheric abilities. That maybe narrows down to one section of the planet; we can guess that his name means "grain" and then he's probably from the India/Pakistan area. Beyond that, we can guess a minimum age. That's about it.

[arf]

Looks like Shell lives to snark another day.

Hmm. Aata's botanical powers seem to reflect what's here and here. I wonder if there is a link. Did Coyote gave the power to Aata?

[jda]

So!, we have a Cleric!

[TBeholder]

So… a gardening duel?

[arf]

Aug 11, 2021 9:44:30 GMT TBeholder said:

So… a gardening duel?

Not Plants vs Zombies!??

[blahzor]

Aug 11, 2021 8:21:54 GMT arf said:

Looks like Shell lives to snark another day.

Hmm. Aata's botanical powers seem to reflect what's here and here. I wonder if there is a link. Did Coyote gave the power to Aata?

or Aata is where he got his copy of the ability from

[SilverbackRon]

We just don't have enough info at this point to know who/what Aata really is.  Seeing him reach into the Ether to speak with Annie and Coyote made me wonder if he was a Foley student who was a previous animal (hmm, what animal is short and round?).

However, he seems to be on a much higher power level.  Coyote knew him and called him "failed cousin" and a "beautiful failure", not something I think he would say to any random former animal.  And now he seems to be able to transmute stuff into... flowers?  We can see Loup's root -tentacle-spear thingies disintegrating into flowers.  That is so freakin' weird and so incredibly specific.  It reminds me of the times Annie visited Foley classes and each student had one etheric trait unique to them that they wanted to show.  But those only manifested in the ether, not the real world.  Even when Ayilu (Red's friend) used her power on Jeanne, it was all in the Ether and didn't effect the real world.  In reality, everyone was just standing or kneeling on the ground despite what the saw.  Aata's use of power is real.

[Georgie L]

Crack theory: Aata's the Seed Bismuth

[ohthatone]

Have we seen any clues about aata in any of the treatises?

[pyradonis]

Haha roots go brrr


In all seriousness, they seem to be able to defend themselves pretty well considering they are attacked by a being with at least demigodlike powers. I'm sure Loup could crush them all if he took the time to think about what he's doing, but he's just lashing out.

Aug 11, 2021 10:35:21 GMT SilverbackRon said:

We just don't have enough info at this point to know who/what Aata really is.  Seeing him reach into the Ether to speak with Annie and Coyote made me wonder if he was a Foley student who was a previous animal (hmm, what animal is short and round?).

Fittingly, it is also smiling all the time.

[mzpx]

Say what you will about Aata (and, umm, there's a lot to say about him..), but he does seem to care about his subordinates (I don't think Daniel's death was part of the plan, like, at all - the Court was trying to avoid Renard accepting any of Coyote's powers, not encourage it). The shock on his face on the previous page, coupled with him immediately using his 'distasteful' healing powers to help Shell. (Let's keep in mind that Shell obviously knew that this was a life-threatening mission.)

By the way, this answers the question we've been asking on the previous pages: Aata could indeed take Loup's attack head on, this was not him sacrificing himself. Plus the emotional turmoil is not affecting his powers.

Now the main question is why Annie is just standing there. She has the strongest attack power out of all of them, she knows she cannot kill Loup with her fire, there are people almost dying around her, it's been at least 30 seconds since the attack started AND she had advance knowledge things were going to go south. Perchance it's time for some explosive laser power.

[guntherkrieg]

Cracking page. 11/10 would look again.

[saardvark]

Aug 11, 2021 11:19:59 GMT Georgie L said:

Crack theory: Aata's the Seed Bismuth

nah, if he was he would sprout buildings everywhere... Shell would be sprouting girders and support beams and pillars now.  I'd say he's more like the seed anti-Bismuth, seed Bismuth's Foresty opposite, mass producing botanicals and floral arrangements instead of skyscrapers....

[King Mir]

Aug 11, 2021 12:39:25 GMT mzpx said:

Say what you will about Aata (and, umm, there's a lot to say about him..), but he does seem to care about his subordinates (I don't think Daniel's death was part of the plan, like, at all - the Court was trying to avoid Renard accepting any of Coyote's powers, not encourage it). The shock on his face on the previous page, coupled with him immediately using his 'distasteful' healing powers to help Shell. (Let's keep in mind that Shell obviously knew that this was a life-threatening mission.)

By the way, this answers the question we've been asking on the previous pages: Aata could indeed take Loup's attack head on, this was not him sacrificing himself. Plus the emotional turmoil is not affecting his powers.

Now the main question is why Annie is just standing there. She has the strongest attack power out of all of them, she knows she cannot kill Loup with her fire, there are people almost dying around her, it's been at least 30 seconds since the attack started AND she had advance knowledge things were going to go south. Perchance it's time for some explosive laser power.

Attacking Loop would be pretty dumb right now. Especially with anything but the Tooth. Her main defensive skill is really hot fire, Which she could try, but it's not exactly the best defense against anything moving fast. They need to wait for him to calm down or flee. But fleeing is hard because they are a large group going all the way back. So they must wait and defend themselves.

[mzpx]

Aug 11, 2021 13:19:55 GMT King Mir said:

Aug 11, 2021 12:39:25 GMT mzpx said:

Say what you will about Aata (and, umm, there's a lot to say about him..), but he does seem to care about his subordinates (I don't think Daniel's death was part of the plan, like, at all - the Court was trying to avoid Renard accepting any of Coyote's powers, not encourage it). The shock on his face on the previous page, coupled with him immediately using his 'distasteful' healing powers to help Shell. (Let's keep in mind that Shell obviously knew that this was a life-threatening mission.)

By the way, this answers the question we've been asking on the previous pages: Aata could indeed take Loup's attack head on, this was not him sacrificing himself. Plus the emotional turmoil is not affecting his powers.

Now the main question is why Annie is just standing there. She has the strongest attack power out of all of them, she knows she cannot kill Loup with her fire, there are people almost dying around her, it's been at least 30 seconds since the attack started AND she had advance knowledge things were going to go south. Perchance it's time for some explosive laser power.

Attacking Loop would be pretty dumb right now. Especially with anything but the Tooth. Her main defensive skill is really hot fire, Which she could try, but it's not exactly the best defense against anything moving fast. They need to wait for him to calm down or flee. But fleeing is hard because they are a large group going all the way back. So they must wait and defend themselves.

I mean, what's the worst that could happen, Loup will be angrier? Not sure that's even possible, he's basically lost all control, and I highly doubt he'll calm himself.
She has a ton of options, create a wall of fire that would at the very least slow down the roots and they could make a slow tactical retreat, or send Loup flying deeper into the forest with an explosive laser.
Using her fire rather than the tooth makes all the sense. Obviously she'd still be hesitant about killing Loup, but she knows her fire cannot kill him, so why not use it cranked to the max.

[manabi]

Aug 11, 2021 12:39:25 GMT mzpx said:

Say what you will about Aata (and, umm, there's a lot to say about him..), but he does seem to care about his subordinates (I don't think Daniel's death was part of the plan, like, at all - the Court was trying to avoid Renard accepting any of Coyote's powers, not encourage it). The shock on his face on the previous page, coupled with him immediately using his 'distasteful' healing powers to help Shell. (Let's keep in mind that Shell obviously knew that this was a life-threatening mission.)

If he truly cared about his staff, he wouldn't keep putting them in such dangerous situations.  Sure, he didn't know Daniel would die, but he knew that messing with Coyote's powers was dangerous, and put Daniel in that situation anyway.  Preferring his staff to not die is one thing, but he's clearly willing to sacrifice them in pursuit of his goal.

Aug 11, 2021 12:39:25 GMT mzpx said:

Now the main question is why Annie is just standing there. She has the strongest attack power out of all of them, she knows she cannot kill Loup with her fire, there are people almost dying around her, it's been at least 30 seconds since the attack started AND she had advance knowledge things were going to go south. Perchance it's time for some explosive laser power.

We all tend to forget it, but Annie's still a teenage girl and doesn't have a lot of experience in battle situations.  She has some, but not anywhere near the level of the others.  She's also not been trained to deal with combat situations.  Training helps overcome shock and surprise, as you automatically do the things you trained to do.  Her being too shocked to do anything, especially since it's probably been less than a minute since Loup started his attack, is perfectly normal.

[ctso74]

Aata's battle cry: "SPOON!"
When we eventually get Aata's history, whether created whole cloth by Tom or based on some myth, it will be interesting and educational.

I wonder if Annie is holding back, due to what Coyote told her, or if she's about to laser up.

[pyradonis]

Aug 11, 2021 12:39:25 GMT mzpx said:

Now the main question is why Annie is just standing there. She has the strongest attack power out of all of them, she knows she cannot kill Loup with her fire, there are people almost dying around her, it's been at least 30 seconds since the attack started AND she had advance knowledge things were going to go south. Perchance it's time for some explosive laser power.

1) Annie is still a 15- or 16-year-old school girl, not a battle-hardened soldier. Give her some time to focus.

2) The last time she tried to attack Loup with her fire, she accomplished precisely zero.

3) What makes you think it was at least 30 seconds?

4) She didn't have any advanced knowledge, Loup was attacking even before time was stopped. She also had no way of knowing what exactly he was going to do.

5) Can she even shoot fire or lasers through Eglamore's shield?

[Gemminie]

How All Were Very Busy. After seeing Loup bypass him to attack Shell behind him, here we see Aata using whatever abilities are at his disposal to rescue her. I'm uncertain whether someone with normal vision would be able to see all of what's going on here; it appears that he's able to disintegrate or break Loup's roots, and he may be accomplishing some sort of healing effect as well. We're seeing the same sort of flowery motif that we saw around him earlier – again, that may have to do with the type of being he is, or he may be human and that may simply be a reflection of how his etheric talent works, or even just his belief system or culture of origin. What Aata's doing appears taxing; there's sweat on his head.

Parley is defending herself and/or others from the roots the old-fashioned, sharp-metal way, while Cvet doesn't seem as effective, able to grasp individual ones but not able to really sever them, though it does look as if she's trying to rip that one apart. And James is still hunkered down with Annie behind his shield; at least one more root has emanated from Loup and bounced off the shield since we last saw them. James and Annie are still looking in the direction from which the roots are coming, though James seems to be looking more upward, so maybe Annie's looking at Loup while James is looking for incoming attacks.

[rabbit]

Aata: Sa(ve) it with flowers.




I'll just see myself out now.

[warrl]

Aug 11, 2021 15:06:19 GMT pyradonis said:

3) What makes you think it was at least 30 seconds?

I was wondering that too. I'm thinking that it's more like 3 seconds since she was dumped out of the ethereal conversation with Coyote.

[rabbit]

If Aata's ability is some etheric healing power and he does have empathy for others as his reaction to the attack on Shell seems to indicate (though many of us have conjectured otherwise), I wonder if Coyote calls him a beautiful failure because his power to help people has driven him to join the Court in its endeavor to become god. That is, he believes the way to stop having to save/heal humans is to make them so powerful they cannot be threatened by etheric creatures and powers. Or as it was put in one fun movie, "to make people … better."

I guess every path to despotism begins with a noble idea?

[SilverbackRon]

Aug 11, 2021 15:06:19 GMT pyradonis said:

Aug 11, 2021 12:39:25 GMT mzpx said:

Now the main question is why Annie is just standing there. She has the strongest attack power out of all of them, she knows she cannot kill Loup with her fire, there are people almost dying around her, it's been at least 30 seconds since the attack started AND she had advance knowledge things were going to go south. Perchance it's time for some explosive laser power.

1) Annie is still a 15- or 16-year-old school girl, not a battle-hardened soldier. Give her some time to focus.

2) The last time she tried to attack Loup with her fire, she accomplished precisely zero.

3) What makes you think it was at least 30 seconds?

4) She didn't have any advanced knowledge, Loup was attacking even before time was stopped. She also had no way of knowing what exactly he was going to do.

5) Can she even shoot fire or lasers through Eglamore's shield?

There is no point at all in Annie attacking Loup right now.  She knows that only the Coyote tooth can kill him.  How does she know?  Coyote just told her.  I can't imagine her even doubting that since she knows how little her fire can do against him.

Second, he did promise not to attack her, but has clearly pointed out that does not extend to anyone else.  If she were to attack him, that might invalidate his promise.  (Think about it, if you promised someone not to attack them, but then they attacked you, wouldn't you feel justified in fighting back?)

Nope, the only thing she could do laser-fire wise is perhaps burn a couple of the roots going after people.  Otherwise it is time for Eggers and Parley to get everyone out of there.