[2636] "Kat, you should go to the meeting."

[imaginaryfriend]

All of the insensitive people are being gathered together in one place.

[madjack]

Annie's totally not going to be etherically snooping on that meeting, no way, completely out of character.

[maxptc]

Oh wow, the court is less selective then I thought. All you have to do is make fun of Reynardine or other etheric creatures to get invited.

[theonethatgotaway]

Jun 13, 2022 7:04:19 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

All of the insensitive people are being gathered together in one place.

"Oh wow, is that a new dress? You look fat in it."
"Thank you, how's your family? Oh right, they abandoned you here, I keep forgetting."
"People, people, calm down, you're all acting like a bunch of babies. But what did I expect from a gaggle of children, ugh."

[shadow3]

The plot thickens.

♬ Dun Dun Dun ♬

[heranje]

Scoob, I have a bad feeling about this.

Ironically, the only thing giving me solace that the Court isn't about to execute a Kat-napping is Loup - here's hoping he gatecrashes the party and spoils their plans.

[philman]

Ok everyone at that meeting is definitely going to suddenly disappear in a giant green flash right? This comic is due another major event, and splitting up half the characters into another location?/dimension? definitely qualifies.

Parley is the court protector and is definitely etherically active given her teleporting abilities, would she be invited as the court protector? Or also left behind?

[madjack]

Jun 13, 2022 8:15:49 GMT philman said:

Ok everyone at that meeting is definitely going to suddenly disappear in a giant green flash right? This comic is due another major event, and splitting up half the characters into another location?/dimension? definitely qualifies.

Parley is the court protector and is definitely etherically active given her teleporting abilities, would she be invited as the court protector? Or also left behind?

Even if Parley was invited on that basis, she probably wouldn't go because Smitty won't be. Andrew's luck powers would mess with a prediction machine something fierce.

[blahzor]

Kat should go Super Saiyan Scientist at the meeting for for fun

[blahzor]

Jun 13, 2022 8:15:49 GMT philman said:

Ok everyone at that meeting is definitely going to suddenly disappear in a giant green flash right? This comic is due another major event, and splitting up half the characters into another location?/dimension? definitely qualifies.

Parley is the court protector and is definitely etherically active given her teleporting abilities, would she be invited as the court protector? Or also left behind?

Left behind due to her having skills Eggy doesn't even tho he got powers from runes and access to spell like abilities. I don't even think Eggy will be allowed to go due to the training program he underwent for court protector. A thing I think wouldn't need as long as they weren't literally next to Coyote/Y's/Loup

[mochakimono]

The Shadow Men reveal a demonstration of the water-ether-sapping machine for the amazement of the students. The students have to pretend they've never seen it before and politely golf clap.

(The thought came to mind since the vibes this chapter is giving me are reminiscent of Faraway Morning...)

[arf]

"New People have no etheric sense, and I am clearly a New Person"
"Oh, that's right! Very well, Mr Jherrek, there may be some room in the gallery."

[TBeholder]

Another thought: in case Zimmy is not a part of the plan, she may be a monkey wrench dropped into it.
As in, they are not going anywhere, they would rather create ether blackout space then and there.
So the dead zone expands until it touches Zimmy and then — welcome to Very Goth Town, hope you people don’t have phobias related to faceless people or Arthropoda Of Unusual Size.

Jun 13, 2022 7:09:10 GMT madjack said:

Annie's totally not going to be etherically snooping on that meeting, no way, completely out of character.

Annie would, of course, but she used her blinker stone for this. It was crushed by 'Grin.

Jun 13, 2022 8:15:49 GMT philman said:

Parley is the court protector and is definitely etherically active given her teleporting abilities, would she be invited as the court protector? Or also left behind?

Without sneaky magical creatures hopping around they don’t feel need to bring Eglamore and Parley with them.
Not until the first giant centipede crawls through a wall, anyway.

[blahzor]

Jun 13, 2022 8:46:06 GMT arf said:

"New People have no etheric sense, and I am clearly a New Person"
"Oh, that's right! Very well, Mr Jherrek, there may be some room in the gallery."

Since they (assuming it's the Courts) have ether black holes that Loup couldn't see into they would probably have people walk into those areas and see if they are effected by the lack of ether in a small scale to determine who goes or not

[worldsong]

Annie: "I think it's where the Court will reveal their plans..."

Me: "I think it's where the Court will reveal their plans and immediately act on them since they're not so dumb as to not realize not everyone is going to agree with the plans."

[silicondream]

Jun 13, 2022 7:09:10 GMT madjack said:

Annie's totally not going to be etherically snooping on that meeting, no way, completely out of character.

She'll probably try. I expect the Court to deploy all their anti-Loup tech to screen it, though, and that can probably block Annie just fine. They might also be using Aata as an etheric watchdog; he may be out of the Shadow Men, but he still seems loyal.

Jun 13, 2022 8:15:49 GMT philman said:

Parley is the court protector and is definitely etherically active given her teleporting abilities, would she be invited as the court protector? Or also left behind?

I still find it hard to believe that the Court would relinquish all its etherically-sensitive members; they're just too useful. My wild guess is that they'll offer some sort of compromise position, e.g. "We're worried about Loup possessing the sensitives, so you can bring your loved ones but they'll have restricted access and they'll be monitored 24/7 and occasionally we may hook them up to strange machines for unstated reasons and we expect you to report any oddities in their behavior."

Jun 13, 2022 8:35:25 GMT blahzor said:

I don't even think Eggy will be allowed to go due to the training program he underwent for court protector.

I actually think the fact that it was a training program will give the Court an excuse to keep him. Protector training is something any human can undergo, and the Court probably knows ways to restrain him or create replacements if he goes rogue. Likewise for Anja Donlan; most of her powers depend on external instruments like blinker stones and her magic computer, which gives the Court a means to control her even if it doesn't entirely understand how they work.

Aata and Annie are sort of the worst-case scenario for the Court because their powers are completely innate and triggered purely by will. They can only be kept under control by their own obedience, and since they've both proven "unruly" they're out.

A thing I think wouldn't need as long as they weren't literally next to Coyote/Y's/Loup

Well, don't forget that (according to tradition) they entered Gillitie Forest as refugees. There's something they were running from, and given that the outside world seems fairly mundane, all the witches and mad scientists and psychics and intelligent nonhumans must still be afraid to reveal themselves to common humanity. All the weird cats Tony visited were basically in hiding too.

There's also other Coyote-class etheric beings scattered around the world, and malevolent forces like the ones who fooled Tony. The Court will always have reason to need super-protection, or at least reason to think they need it.

[todd]

Jun 13, 2022 11:04:04 GMT silicondream said:

Jun 13, 2022 7:09:10 GMT madjack said:

Annie's totally not going to be etherically snooping on that meeting, no way, completely out of character.

She'll probably try. I expect the Court to deploy all their anti-Loup tech to screen it, though, and that can probably block Annie just fine. They might also be using Aata as an etheric watchdog; he may be out of the Shadow Men, but he still seems loyal.

Jun 13, 2022 8:15:49 GMT philman said:

Parley is the court protector and is definitely etherically active given her teleporting abilities, would she be invited as the court protector? Or also left behind?

I still find it hard to believe that the Court would relinquish all its etherically-sensitive members; they're just too useful. My wild guess is that they'll offer some sort of compromise position, e.g. "We're worried about Loup possessing the sensitives, so you can bring your loved ones but they'll have restricted access and they'll be monitored 24/7 and occasionally we may hook them up to strange machines for unstated reasons and we expect you to report any oddities in their behavior."

Jun 13, 2022 8:35:25 GMT blahzor said:

I don't even think Eggy will be allowed to go due to the training program he underwent for court protector.

I actually think the fact that it was a training program will give the Court an excuse to keep him. Protector training is something any human can undergo, and the Court probably knows ways to restrain him or create replacements if he goes rogue. Likewise for Anja Donlan; most of her powers depend on external instruments like blinker stones and her magic computer, which gives the Court a means to control her even if it doesn't entirely understand how they work.

Aata and Annie are sort of the worst-case scenario for the Court because their powers are completely innate and triggered purely by will. They can only be kept under control by their own obedience, and since they've both proven "unruly" they're out.

A thing I think wouldn't need as long as they weren't literally next to Coyote/Y's/Loup

Well, don't forget that (according to tradition) they entered Gillitie Forest as refugees. There's something they were running from, and given that the outside world seems fairly mundane, all the witches and mad scientists and psychics and intelligent nonhumans must still be afraid to reveal themselves to common humanity. All the weird cats Tony visited were basically in hiding too.

There's also other Coyote-class etheric beings scattered around the world, and malevolent forces like the ones who fooled Tony. The Court will always have reason to need super-protection, or at least reason to think they need it.

I've wondered whether the decision to do without the etheric population of the Court might be based, in part, on principle - a tone of "We compromise our stand against the etheric in the name of science as long as we keep such people in our presence; time to drive them out and make ourselves pure."

How they intend to do without their uses under that scenario, we don't know. Maybe the Court is on the verge of a device that will destroy the ether and wipe out all etheric beings (and possibly even the plan is to take all the non-etheric people away but not the etheric so that those non-etheric members of the Court wouldn't see their etheric friends die some horrific death and turn against the Court).

[ctso74]

Jun 13, 2022 8:32:37 GMT blahzor said:

Kat should go Super Saiyan Scientist at the meeting for for fun

Kat: goes Super Saiyan
Winsbury: looks up at his hair "Meh."

[blahzor]

what makes me think this is b/c i don't think the runes tattoo'd on him are reversable and he is effecively a ether being now but a loyal one. Aata is proof that he has the ability to do something they think is unfair so he can't help himself from using it like Aata did

[Gemminie]

Annie and Renard speak via their familiar connection; it seems both of them already know who has gotten invitations and who hasn't: namely, the people who aren't Ether-sensitive got them. I'm not sure how they know this, when we didn't see them find out who got them and who didn't; perhaps it's an Ether thing.

Annie then urges Kat to go to the meeting, as it's probably where the Court will reveal their plans. Or some portion of their plans. But will they reveal them only by actually carrying them out? Serious Annie looks serious. Janet and Winsbury are visible in the background. How does Winsbury get his hair to do that? It must take a whole can of mousse every day.

And then the final frame is a "That Night" establishing shot for what's coming next. Suspense ... But hey, a beautiful drawing of this coastal area at night.

[Gemminie]

Jun 13, 2022 8:15:49 GMT philman said:

Ok everyone at that meeting is definitely going to suddenly disappear in a giant green flash right? This comic is due another major event, and splitting up half the characters into another location?/dimension? definitely qualifies.

Parley is the court protector and is definitely etherically active given her teleporting abilities, would she be invited as the court protector? Or also left behind?

I really don't think they're going to invite Parley, who is not the Court Protector yet as far as I know; is she? I thought she was still in training. But anyway, I don't see why they'd let anyone with anything etheric in – the Omega Device demands complete separation from the Ether, it seems, so if you're going to compromise on that, why do it at all?

Perhaps they'll set up a no-Ether enclave with an Ether-permitted area around it for defense? They'll set up the first circle for the Ether-insensitives, then they'll bring the Ether-sensitive but loyal people and put them in the second circle, then the gluttonous in the third circle ...

[mturtle7]

Jun 13, 2022 14:13:46 GMT Gemminie said:

Annie and Renard speak via their familiar connection; it seems both of them already know who has gotten invitations and who hasn't: namely, the people who aren't Ether-sensitive got them. I'm not sure how they know this, when we didn't see them find out who got them and who didn't; perhaps it's an Ether thing.

I was wondering about that too. Looking back at the previous page, though, I'm realizing that the way Annie's positioned in that last panel might have allowed her to read that letter over Kat's shoulder? She seems kind of far away and to the side for that, but it's the only explanation I can see. And I guess Renard must have been close enough to her to also read it, even if he was off-panel.

As a side note, what kind of super-technological school sends their announcements to students using only PAPER LETTERS in this day and age?!? What, were their fax machines all out of order? Did Winsbury have to go to the telegram office to get that message?

[rabbit]

Jun 13, 2022 16:46:22 GMT mturtle7 said:

As a side note, what kind of super-technological school sends their announcements to students using only PAPER LETTERS in this day and age?!? What, were their fax machines all out of order? Did Winsbury have to go to the telegram office to get that message?

Despite their outdated technology, fax machines remain mysteriously popular; they must have some unknown etheric connection and are therefore rejected by the Court.

[pyradonis]

Jun 13, 2022 8:19:46 GMT madjack said:

Jun 13, 2022 8:15:49 GMT philman said:

Ok everyone at that meeting is definitely going to suddenly disappear in a giant green flash right? This comic is due another major event, and splitting up half the characters into another location?/dimension? definitely qualifies.

Parley is the court protector and is definitely etherically active given her teleporting abilities, would she be invited as the court protector? Or also left behind?

Even if Parley was invited on that basis, she probably wouldn't go because Smitty won't be. Andrew's luck powers would mess with a prediction machine something fierce.

They probably think they won't need a medium or protector where they're going anyway. And Parley is not the Court Protector, Eglamore is.

Jun 13, 2022 11:04:04 GMT silicondream said:

Likewise for Anja Donlan; most of her powers depend on external instruments like blinker stones and her magic computer, which gives the Court a means to control her even if it doesn't entirely understand how they work.

Re-read "Ties". Anja can create shields and "zap" beings fine without any help.

Jun 13, 2022 7:09:10 GMT madjack said:

Annie's totally not going to be etherically snooping on that meeting, no way, completely out of character.

And here's to wondering whether the anti-Ether fraction has put up Etheric wards to keep Etheric beings out...

[warrl]

Jun 13, 2022 16:46:22 GMT mturtle7 said:

As a side note, what kind of super-technological school sends their announcements to students using only PAPER LETTERS in this day and age?!?

One that wants the announcements in question to seem particularly important?

One that wants to draw more attention to the fact that only some people are getting the announcement? (Who actually looks at the to: and cc: lists on email?)

Annie and Renard speak via their familiar connection; it seems both of them already know who has gotten invitations and who hasn't: namely, the people who aren't Ether-sensitive got them. I'm not sure how they know this, when we didn't see them find out who got them and who didn't; perhaps it's an Ether thing.

Maybe the paper announcements bear a long "to" list. Maybe the kids that Annie and Kat ran into have already done some investigation/discussion of who did & didn't get the letter (it would actually be surprising if they didn't at least talk about it).

[todd]

Jun 13, 2022 16:46:22 GMT mturtle7 said:

As a side note, what kind of super-technological school sends their announcements to students using only PAPER LETTERS in this day and age?!? What, were their fax machines all out of order? Did Winsbury have to go to the telegram office to get that message?

Maybe Loup's latest attack did enough damage to the Court to force it to revert to those methods?

[drmemory]

Jun 13, 2022 8:15:49 GMT philman said:

Ok everyone at that meeting is definitely going to suddenly disappear in a giant green flash right? This comic is due another major event, and splitting up half the characters into another location?/dimension? definitely qualifies.

Parley is the court protector and is definitely etherically active given her teleporting abilities, would she be invited as the court protector? Or also left behind?

That depends on whether the court thinks "psychic powers" and "ether-based powers" are the same thing.  If so, that would rule out Andrew as well.  I could almost see them accepting pure psychic powers as purely human things though.

Also, Eglamore doesn't have any of either that we've seen - just the abilities granted by his tattoos.  Runes.  Whatever they are.  Which raises a related question - are Rojat Orvaks (like Cvet) considered etheric?

[drmemory]

Jun 13, 2022 16:46:22 GMT mturtle7 said:

As a side note, what kind of super-technological school sends their announcements to students using only PAPER LETTERS in this day and age?!? What, were their fax machines all out of order? Did Winsbury have to go to the telegram office to get that message?

Perhaps one that wants to control distribution.  No CC for the court!

Individual envelopes too.  Same reason.  Actually, it's been a long time since I was in university, but we used to have individual mail slots with cheap combos on them.  Is that still done or do schools all use email now?

[mglvna]

I don't think the debate on Eggers or Parley relies as such on whether they're technically ether beings. Shell said that Aata was allowed to join the shadow men as long as he permanently vowed not to use his etheric abilities. This implies to me that the court might be open to letting some ether-powered people like Parley or Anja and such come along--provided, of course, they agree never to use their powers ever again. 

[Per]

Jun 13, 2022 17:28:22 GMT warrl said:

Maybe the paper announcements bear

... is itself some kind of etheric creature