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Post by madjack on Oct 22, 2021 7:02:23 GMT
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Post by machiavelli33 on Oct 22, 2021 7:25:23 GMT
"I-i-i-its not like I like him or anything!"
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Post by philman on Oct 22, 2021 7:37:08 GMT
Ah, so the torturing of Shell continues. Is the plan to make her literally explode with embarrassment and clear a path to the surface?
More seriously, probing an embarrassed love interest for information on Aata might not be such a bad plan, as she may blurt out secrets while defending him.
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Post by imaginaryfriend on Oct 22, 2021 7:46:53 GMT
For some reason I just remembered back when I was an undergrad in college. On two separate occasions I saved girls I was dating from getting hit by cars. One stepped off a curb without looking left, one slipped on ice and nearly skidded under some wheels. Neither said thanks, they just looked at me a little funny now and then for roughly a 24hr period. But of course, I wasn't a pretty man. Aata's experience will differ, I expect.  |
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Post by TBeholder on Oct 22, 2021 8:19:13 GMT
“In Which The Unlucky Goldfish Was Left In A Barrel Of Circular Swimming On That Shooting Range”? Ah, so the torturing of Shell continues. Is the plan to make her literally explode with embarrassment and clear a path to the surface? Melt the entrance to the basements or service tunnels? More seriously, probing an embarrassed love interest for information on Aata might not be such a bad plan, as she may blurt out secrets while defending him. Or some detail, importance of which she just doesn’t know — because Aata held those cards too close to his chest. Indeed. |
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Post by antiyonder on Oct 22, 2021 8:33:07 GMT
"I-i-i-its not like I like him or anything!" No use of the word Baka? But yeah figures that Sempai doesn't notice her I bet. |
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Post by ohthatone on Oct 22, 2021 11:22:33 GMT
Huh, I thought he meant for Shell to stay and help with the rescue of the other shadowmen. Instead he is separating her from them.
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Post by Tenjen on Oct 22, 2021 12:11:07 GMT
When you're so flustered you lose your physical artistic cohesion vs your surroundings XD
Hope thats not indicative of anything since Loup was doing the same.
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Post by quinnr on Oct 22, 2021 13:14:04 GMT
I'm loving that Annie and Parley are so irritated with the Shadow Men that they simultaneously evolved more artistic eyelids to better express their disappointment. Parley's looks these past few pages in particular could definitely kill a lesser being than whatever Aata is.
And Cvet never fails to give me a laugh!
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Post by speedwell on Oct 22, 2021 13:32:39 GMT
Huh, I thought he meant for Shell to stay and help with the rescue of the other shadowmen. Instead he is separating her from them. Aata is not, I gather, slow on the uptake. She threw in her lot with him in a rather obvious way by sitting down with him protectively, upset that he would send her away, and he accepted that and fit it into his plans. Aata clearly is someone who takes massive risks with massive stakes and bears his losses with comparative equanimity; he reminds me a lot of a day trader in stock options I knew once. That's actually one reason I am leaning toward regarding him as a demigod; he has that high-handed air of vaguely amused entitlement and loose-reined command. That's not to say he is evil or anything; I just get the impression he Runs Things Around Here - and though he is fully capable of identifying when he has met his match, he really kind of never has experienced that before in the Court. Has anyone speculated wildly whether Aata was one of the original Court members? |
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Post by ctso74 on Oct 22, 2021 13:52:13 GMT
It's not her fault, that their parents setup an engagement between them, without them ever meeting first.
The real question: Is this the beginning of Aata's harem or Shell's?
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Post by Gemminie on Oct 22, 2021 13:54:07 GMT
After the fairies sent Shell's Anime Blush Pressure through the roof, she apparently needs a moment to cool down, because Aata asks Parley to take him and the rest of the Shadow Men bipping back to the Court (well, somewhere in the Court that isn't underground tunnels with perhaps no other way out), leaving Shell there. Parley's slight grin probably relates to the "wife" comment. This leaves Shell, Annie, Cvet, and possibly the fairies still in this cavern, and there's still that blue light in the distance – maybe artistic license at this point, or maybe some portable electric lantern the Shadow Men left there.
Annie's expression seems carefully neutral as she addresses Shell. This may be because she's talking about how Shell "likes" a man who has done many terrible things, in Annie's experience. Shell's still in anime-style emotionally-driven distorted-art mode.
And Cvet's being here is absolutely perfect. Not only does she notice stuff like this and talk to other people about it, she's more than willing to talk about it endlessly. This is enough to turn Shell fully red again. Sure, Shell. You respect him. That's all. And yes, he did save her life, at the cost of ... something that we still don't know much about, but it was important to both of them.
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Post by speedwell on Oct 22, 2021 13:57:52 GMT
It's not her fault, that their parents setup an engagement between them, without them ever meeting first. The real question: Is this the beginning of Aata's harem or Shell's? It's much more complicated than that. Certain kinds of magickal protections and bonds are held to be formed between married couples in many magickal traditions and religions. If those exist between Aata and Shell, the fairies may assume it is because they are married. A better reason for them existing is because Aata created them by protecting Shell in the way that he did, and because Shell is so completely devoted to him. If, as I've speculated elsewhere, Aata is a being of the divine class and Shell is his sole and chief adherent, marriage is not a terrible way of describing their relationship. |
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Post by pinegreenjellybean on Oct 22, 2021 14:11:11 GMT
It's quite possible that the fairies were picking up on the attachment (whatever the nature) between Aata and Shell and translating that into the closest equivalent that they knew of with regards to people. (Did Coyote not once ask Smitty and Parley if they were husband and wife when the two were young adolescents? I imagine that forest folks may not have a great grasp of all the nuances surrounding human-ish relationships.)
Also, it seems like Annie's sensitivity to others' romantic feelings has increased quite a bit since that incident on the school bleachers...
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Post by DonDueed on Oct 22, 2021 15:02:14 GMT
Funny how embarrassment makes Shell's teeth pointy.
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Post by Per on Oct 22, 2021 15:16:33 GMT
"I-i-i-its not like I like him or anything!" No use of the word Baka? No need. It echoed in my mind. |
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Post by Runningflame on Oct 23, 2021 0:22:18 GMT
And Cvet's being here is absolutely perfect. Not only does she notice stuff like this and talk to other people about it, she's more than willing to talk about it endlessly. This is enough to turn Shell fully red again. Sure, Shell. You respect him. That's all. And yes, he did save her life, at the cost of ... something that we still don't know much about, but it was important to both of them. Hmm. I note that Annie also saved someone's life, at the cost of something important that we still don't know much about. And she later admitted that she finds him very handsome. And Cvet heard her say that... All I'm saying is, you might wanna tread carefully here, Carver. |
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Post by kayback on Oct 24, 2021 6:05:22 GMT
Not a super fan of the artwork.
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Post by blahzor on Oct 24, 2021 17:16:38 GMT
after absorbing another of herself Annie's relationship perception raised to 3 luckily she rolled a nat 20 after someone else pointed it out first |
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Post by drmemory on Oct 24, 2021 23:45:25 GMT
So Parley takes orders from Aata, without complaint. Interesting. I thought she worked for Mighty Eyebrow Boy, pretty much. Also very interesting that Aata left Shell behind. His eyes on the forest, or abandoned because no longer useful to his plans? Surely he doesn't think she'll be safer where she is than in the shadowcave. If keeping an eye on things for him, how do they talk? Perhaps she has her own etheric abilities, or perhaps she's linked to him after being saved by his Flower Power - perhaps making it easier for him to look through her eyes in the ether?
Looking forward to seeing how well she can stonewall Annie and Cvet when left along with them.  Actually, that's another guess at his thinking - maybe he's ok with Annie knowing more about what is going on but doesn't want to tell her directly, in front of his red-shirted minions. Or ex-minions, possibly.
That was sort of a ramble. A bit more organized list of possible reasons for Aata leaving Shell behind when having Parley take all the other shadow men that were there:
1. Thinks she is safer where she is (physically or politically) 2. Left behind to spy (knowingly, because linked by Flower Power, or easy to look through her eyes or something) 3. Meant to tell Annie more of what's going on, without telling her directly in front of the other shadow men (plausible deniability)
What I don't believe is that leaving her behind was an oversight. Being sloppy like that would be very inconsistent with what we've seen of him.
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Post by Per on Oct 25, 2021 10:31:12 GMT
So Parley takes orders from Aata, without complaint. On the contrary, it seemed clear to me that if Eglamore's showing disdain for Aata, she's going to as well, despite it being highly unlikely that she personally knows what is all what. |
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Post by warrl on Oct 25, 2021 18:02:27 GMT
Obeying that particular order was consistent with what she was there for anyway; it was just a matter of prioritizing whom to get out first.
There could have been different reasons for taking that particular group out first. Maybe Aata wanted to get them out because they need to report back and continue their important work, and George wanted to get them out so they wouldn't be bugging the people who were there to do the important work.
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Post by drmemory on Oct 25, 2021 22:32:54 GMT
So Parley takes orders from Aata, without complaint. On the contrary, it seemed clear to me that if Eglamore's showing disdain for Aata, she's going to as well, despite it being highly unlikely that she personally knows what is all what. True, just because she took the order doesn't mean she cares for him. Also, we know Eglamore is unhappy with Aata screwing with Loup and starting all the current excitement ("pretty steamed" comment) but I guess we don't really know the chain of command here. Like here, in what I think of as "rude Aata pt. II", he clearly acts like he (Aata) is in charge, even thought they wouldn't even be allowed in the forest w/o Annie.
It seems clear that nobody who isn't wearing a suit jacket with a Shadow Man symbol on it knew what Aata had planned.
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Post by lurkerbot on Oct 26, 2021 23:12:14 GMT
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Actually, that's another guess at his thinking - maybe he's ok with Annie knowing more about what is going on but doesn't want to tell her directly, in front of his red-shirted minions. Or ex-minions, possibly.