[2854] Maybe Kat knows who she is?

[Timberwere]

I guess being a bit suspicious can't hurt.
In particular if they really are moving faster than would be expected.

[imaginaryfriend]

By the way: Where is Antimony trying to go? If she's still going to explain what's going on to the other Court people trapped in the distortion, like she said a while back, they should have been concentrated near the sea, and may be in whatever that looks like now. She's got Noobmenz in tow, so awkward questions might be asked. If the star sea is still sucking ether there might be a barrier of some sort as well. That might be something she/they have to deal with before meeting up with the other Court people. If Antimony wants to resolve the distortion then reuniting Gamma and Zeta would probably be a big step, so letting Zeta continue to lead (assuming that's what's happening) would probably help. Or maybe Antimony was just going away from the prairie-dawgs and spider-chans and is content to wander until she figures out what she should be doing?

[blackmantha]

And they're actually at the distortion-version of the bridge. Let's hope it doesn't resume not existing unexpectedly.

[blahzor]

Weird maybe some Zimmy like NP triggered the actual movement this time instead of Annie which doesn't move them

[Igniz]

1. At least they're in the corresponding place.
2. Kat should've equipped her device with a screen so they could video chat.

BTW, I'm continuing to assume that's really Kat on the other side of the phone, but regarding the circumstances, we can't be sure for certain.

[ctso74]

Well, we're on the bridge with nothing happening. Will we see an "ideal" Court on the other side, to match the Forest?
Was looking forward to seeing a version of Jeanne, but maybe an "ideal" version of her, would live out her life and die peacefully, centuries ago.

[Gemini Jim]

Kat's comment in the last panel has me paranoid. I guess she can track her walkie-talkie device, or...

* she's consulting a "Super Zimmy Bros." player guide walkthrough. World 4-1, Court Bridge! They cleared the spider, hamster, and forest bosses so quickly!

* "Kat's" not Kat, and the real Kat is roleplaying a New Person Character

* or, some sort of recursive thing where Kat knows because she's already experienced it

[Gemminie]

After realizing that the New Person with long black hair whom I'm provisionally calling "Gina" has been the first one to notice everything, Renard remembers that Jerrek also slipped by among all the new faces and doesn't want to be fooled that way again. Annie thinks about asking Kat.

Pulling out the radio (and we see that they're still walking across the bridge), Annie contacts Kat. She hesitates for a moment (always smooth, that Annie) – and we see "Gina" looking back at us, probably signifying that she's looking back at Annie as they walk, and possibly meaning that Annie sees her doing that. Does she suspect? Is she able to sense the ethereal conversation that just happened? So Annie, looking nervous, asks Kat an innocuous question, namely whether their location has changed. Renard pointedly says nothing, possibly meaning that he's wishing Annie would ask Kat about "Gina," but he's also reluctant to call attention to their suspicions. Kat replies that they have in fact moved and are where they appear to be – their location is where the bridge once was. Kat expresses surprise that they've moved so quickly.

So this form of notional motion via familiar imagery is in fact working – at least, as far as Kat's means of locating them is concerned. Assuming that's really Kat. Assuming it's really Annie and Renard. But that way lies madness. Accepting for now that Annie and Renard are in fact crossing a distortion-reconstructed bridge over the Annan Waters and that Kat detects them in that location, they appear to have really moved. Their earlier attempts to just walk (both Annie's and "Gina"'s) didn't work, but this is working. It appears that "all the way out where the bridge used to be" is some distance from where they were before. Yet they were in the ruins when the distortion hit, and I thought that the former bridge area was where Loup threw the Forest at the Court to form those ruins. Of course, there was destruction over a broad area. But they've still moved from one part of the destruction to another part.

How's Annie going to ask Kat about "Gina" without making it obvious that she's asking about "Gina?" Maybe she could ask whether Kat can detect all the NP that are with them? Maybe ask how many there are? Maybe say she's worried about other NP who might be wandering about out there in the distortion and might be in danger. "We've got 16 of them with us; do you have a count on how many there are, and how many are with you?"

Narratively, focusing on "Gina" like this is a signal to us that she's important, but in what way? Maybe she's just a very perceptive but otherwise ordinary NP. Maybe there is an impostor, but it's someone else. Maybe all the NP are impostors, or all but the first four (who put the radio together). If "Gina" is an impostor, she seems to be trying to be helpful. Maybe she's really Zimmy, Gamma, Coyote, Loup, Ysengrin, or even Lana.

And maybe Annie shouldn't be making waves whilst vastly outnumbered by the NP and crossing a reconstruction of the bridge that she got shoved off by a possessed robot earlier.

[netherdan]

Oct 25, 2023 12:23:32 GMT Igniz said:

1. At least they're in the corresponding place.
2. Kat should've equipped her device with a screen so they could video chat.

BTW, I'm continuing to assume that's really Kat on the other side of the phone, but regarding the circumstances, we can't be sure for certain.

Heh, maybe maybe-Zimmy is actually Kat and that's Zimmy on the radio

[Runningflame]

Tom said:

Rude to listen in!

Well, if it is Zimmy, then it's no surprise she's being rude.

[laaaa]

Personally, that look gave me Loup vibes...

[laaaa]

Maybe... Kat is Zimmy? She called Zimmy a monster, and Zimmy has a lot of self-loathing.

[pyradonis]

Oct 26, 2023 6:33:19 GMT laaaa said:

Maybe... Kat is Zimmy? She called Zimmy a monster, and Zimmy has a lot of self-loathing.

I feel like this is the most reasonable "X is really Y" guess for this chapter so far.

[Gemminie]

Oct 26, 2023 13:49:59 GMT pyradonis said:

Oct 26, 2023 6:33:19 GMT laaaa said:

Maybe... Kat is Zimmy? She called Zimmy a monster, and Zimmy has a lot of self-loathing.

I feel like this is the most reasonable "X is really Y" guess for this chapter so far.

Speculation 1: After sending the radio (but before Annie told her that it had arrived in multiple pieces), Kat tried to teleport herself to Annie, being metaphysically split and arriving in the form of multiple New People. Before the radio, there are only 5 NP confirmed to be near Annie. But after the first radio conversation, there are soon at least 7 of them, and by the page where the NP with the long black hair first appears, there are at least 12. Perhaps she is the part of Kat that can see through Ether illusions, but she doesn't have Kat's complete memory of what's going on. Meanwhile, it's a fragment of Zimmy who's talking to Annie on the radio.

Speculation 2: Zimmy fragments are typically all over the place in distortions, but here the distortion is so large that they're more sparsely spread about – at least at first. But now, Annie's activities are attracting more of them, in the form of an increasing number of New People. The black-haired one is a Zimmy fragment, but so are many other NP. It's really Kat on the radio.

Combined speculation: Some of the NP are Zimmy fragments, while others are Kat fragments. Perhaps some are bits of Zimmy and Kat combined?

[Igniz]

Oct 26, 2023 13:49:59 GMT pyradonis said:

I feel like this is the most reasonable "X is really Y" guess for this chapter so far.