[2850] "He wasn't the fool I thought he was."

[imaginaryfriend]

Can't stop staring at those fingers in panels 2-3.

...anyway, does this mean these are Ysengrin's memories/subconscious/whatever or Antimony's and Renard is just observing the interaction? Or perhaps both?  

[blahzor]

All a metaphorical walk down memory lane (since they aren't actually moving)

[arf]

Are they going to continue following the wolf? Will the NP be staying with their new friends? Will the elves join playing follow the leader?
Is the chapter about to end? (I suspect it will get us back to the Court in about 10 more pages)

[ctso74]

So many questions. But still, awww.

[pyradonis]

Oct 14, 2023 0:05:05 GMT drmemory said:

Giant Ysengrin led them to this scene, and we're seeing an especially attractive version of Annie messing with a Moss Ogre. A clue that this one is built from Ysengrin's memory? I can't imagine Annie would have such an idealized view of herself, and Renard wasn't present for the original confrontation. Coyote was around but supposedly walked off before she burned the dude. So Ysengrin's memories seem the most likely source.

Seems like you were right on the money!

While I was totally fooled. Speaking of fools, interesting that Renard seemingly wasn't aware how highly Ysengrin thought of Annie. Didn't Annie tell Renard about their time together?

[Gemminie]

After firing a warning shot and getting the Moss Ogre's attention, fire-Antimony faces off against the scowling Ogre, who then stomps off into the forest. It then looks for one panel as if both huge-Ysengrin and fire-Antimony are looking back at us, out of the frame. But then we see that this isn't actually Annie, because actual Annie is standing back, watching this scene unfold from behind and to the right.

Renard then kind-of-explains what we just saw by saying that this is evidence that Ysengrin thought very highly of Annie. Annie has a misty, nostalgic expression.

So ... it would appear that this was Annie reminiscing about the good times. Or maybe some bit of Ysengrin was. Or something. Anyway, it was in fact a memory, or a reimagining of one, because it didn't go down quite like this. The Tree Elves saw the Moss Ogre; does that mean they're also memories, or are they real and is the distortion bringing memories into tangible existence? Did the New People see it, assuming they're real (at least some of them have a greater likelihood of being real, as there were New People near Annie before the distortion arrived)? If the Moss Ogre had stayed around to hit a Tree Elf, assuming they're real, would the wounds have been real? If the distortion were to flicker out right now, would those trees the Moss Ogre broke disappear, or would there be some damaged buildings there?

Anyway, this is bringing into question whether anything real is happening at all. Annie might want to contact Kat (assuming the radio is real, and the Kat-voice on the other end is really Kat and not also a product of someone's imagination/memories) and ask whether her physical location has changed. I guess that wouldn't be full confirmation. Narratively this is-anything-real situation is difficult to write, because it's hard to show actual plot progress while simultaneously showing that none of this might be real. But for us readers, I guess what we do is watch what we're shown next and try to guess what's really going on. As usual.

My guess based on the overall shape of the arc is that the Tree Elves are real and that Annie has moved herself, Renard and the New People to another area within the distortion. Motion is achieved via accessing memories, but part of that process is reliving those memories, and those traveling with Annie and those in the destination area get to watch those memories as they're re-enacted/re-interpreted. Once she collects herself and the New People, she can try another familiar image. If she's trying to get to the seaside residential area, she needs to focus on something familiar that's here but also there, but what's that? There may be more than one step left. She may want to think about the forest at the edge of the bridge, so she can start moving toward memories that have buildings in them.

[hp]

Oct 16, 2023 14:01:19 GMT pyradonis said:

Oct 14, 2023 0:05:05 GMT drmemory said:

Giant Ysengrin led them to this scene, and we're seeing an especially attractive version of Annie messing with a Moss Ogre. A clue that this one is built from Ysengrin's memory? I can't imagine Annie would have such an idealized view of herself, and Renard wasn't present for the original confrontation. Coyote was around but supposedly walked off before she burned the dude. So Ysengrin's memories seem the most likely source.

Seems like you were right on the money!

While I was totally fooled. Speaking of fools, interesting that Renard seemingly wasn't aware how highly Ysengrin thought of Annie. Didn't Annie tell Renard about their time together?

When Annie and Ysengrim fought the forest thugs, she burned the ogre by being to hot for him to come close. She only learned the laser technique (which that "fshh " looks like) after being shifted by Loup.

So it seems that scene is an amalgam of different memories (from one or more people), or maybe just misremembered

[novia]

Oct 16, 2023 7:15:47 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

Can't stop staring at those fingers in panels 2-3.  

Ok, but what about the fingers in panel 4?

[imaginaryfriend]

Oct 16, 2023 18:06:21 GMT novia said:

Oct 16, 2023 7:15:47 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

Can't stop staring at those fingers in panels 2-3.  

Ok, but what about the fingers in panel 4?

Elbow in, pinkie out. Correct form.

[Runningflame]

He keeps good company, spite himself.