[2974] "What's going..."

[imaginaryfriend]

Looks like the Donlans were getting on just fine in the distortion... until Omega appeared, probably.

I'd have titled the thread "Omega!" but I think that'd be too close to a previous one.

[yellowb]

You beat me to starting this thread by a couple of minutes.

That was a short sighting of Don and Anja. 😞

[imaginaryfriend]

Jul 31, 2024 7:10:35 GMT yellowb said:

You beat me to starting this thread by a couple of minutes.

I am supercharged with the power of insomnia.

[Cori]

Calling it now: we're about to witness the second Omega kidnapping. She's going to take away all of the adults Annie knows who might be able to help, or be able to bring her to the actual nexus of the Omega device/the Court.

Annie will have no choice but to finally suck it up and seek Zimmy out.

Although, I wonder how Omega herself wound up here, given that she can't get to places she's never been before on her own. Because of the state of Annie's clothes in this chapter, I'm assuming some time has passed between now and the end of the last chapter. Did Annie try to go to Donald by herself at first? Omega might have done this once or a few times before to yoink Annie's contacts away from her. I can see her finding Donald and using him to get to Anja (or vice-versa), then using them both to get here, where she thinks Annie can't find them.

I don't know, I'm spitballing this. We'll probably get a retroactive explanation here pretty soon.

[worldsong]

As I thought.

Omega doesn't want to hurt Annie but she will sabotage any attempts to fix the distortion.

[arf]

Thumbnail spotted (panel 1)

Two possibilities here:
1. this was where Omega was taking Tony as well
2. Omega is tracking Annie's movements and swooping in ...

[edit: re point 2. Omega says she'll be watching Annie ]

[rafk]

The question is whether this is current Donald and Anja or timey wimey (or a projection of them from back when they were getting married).

[morrahadesigns]

Jul 31, 2024 10:42:02 GMT rafk said:

The question is whether this is current Donald and Anja or timey wimey (or a projection of them from back when they were getting married).

They recognized Kat so I don't think it is a past projection of them. It is curious though that they ended up where the Donlans got married. Did they figure out distortion hopping and go on a vacation? Or did it just sync up to an emotionally charged point for them?

[ctso74]

Hide your dads, and hide your moms, cause Meg's knappin everyone out here.
That meme turned 14 this week...

[caber]

Now this makes me curious: are Kat's parents still able to access their ether-tech computer? Would that still work correctly in the distortion? I think it'd be funny to see Anja or Donald pop up a shield or etheric anchor and just kinda be like, "nope, we're not going anywhere."

If Omega is kidnapping the adults, I'm wondering how she can keep them from just accidentally/intentionally shifting to another location. Unless she's somehow trapping them, surely at some point it'd be like herding cats?

[Gemminie]

After Annie and Renard appeared and disappeared with Kat, we see an establishing shot of somewhere with pretty rolling hills covered with greenery, though there appears to be an eclipsed sun in the sky. Hey, it's the chapter icon!

Annie, Renard, and Kat appear; this appears to be where Annie brought them, based on Kat's memories. Kat states that she visited here when she was little and that she thinks her parents were married here. Annie's clothes are still on fire from the transportation. When she can focus, she can choose exactly what her fire does and doesn't burn, but if she's in a hurry she can get careless. Annie's looking around as if searching for threats.

And just a little way away, we suddenly see them – Don and Anja are here together, possibly also because of their memories. Don starts to ask Kat what's going on, when suddenly Omega is there between them, a hand on each of their arms. Annie (you can tell it's her from the dialog balloon background color) shouts, "Omega!" Tom's note, "Blobby energy," probably refers to the sky in the background behind Anja and Don.

OK, given past behavior, I'm betting Omega's about to vanish with them, taking them to wherever she's taken Tony and removing Annie's ability to find out where that is. Annie already had a personal incentive to rescue her father, either by finding him or ending the distortion, and Omega's just eliminated the first option. Kat now has a similar incentive. What's Omega's plan here? Does she want them to try to end the distortion? Because that's definitely what they're going to do now. And when Annie and Kat are working together, we haven't seen anything that can stop them.

On the other hand, maybe Annie can get Omega to monologue long enough to tackle her so she's out of contact with Kat's parents. Another option: what if Annie and Kat then decide to go to a memory of hers where her dad said something oblique about a project he was working on? Could the distortion give them the ability to get additional information from a remembered version of a person? That's like zoom-and-enhance producing additional information in an image that doesn't have it, which is impossible in real life, but this is an etheric distortion where we still don't know all the rules.

[Corvo]

So...


The obvious answer would be "Tony was there", but then where the heck is he now? I don't think she can send people to places alone, can she?

[Gemminie]

Jul 31, 2024 14:25:46 GMT caber said:

Now this makes me curious: are Kat's parents still able to access their ether-tech computer? Would that still work correctly in the distortion? I think it'd be funny to see Anja or Donald pop up a shield or etheric anchor and just kinda be like, "nope, we're not going anywhere."

If Omega is kidnapping the adults, I'm wondering how she can keep them from just accidentally/intentionally shifting to another location. Unless she's somehow trapping them, surely at some point it'd be like herding cats?

Possibilities that I didn't think of. Yep, if they still have contact with their computer, it probably can't teleport things without chopping them up, but maybe it can produce energy shields.

I don't know that Omega's kidnapping all the adults, but she's probably getting the ones who know the particular secret Court places she's interested in for whatever reason. Likely we're talking about wherever the surveillance systems are, so Omega can be "watching" Annie and interfering with her ability to shut down the distortion. If she can prevent Annie from talking to any of those people, she can prevent Annie from getting to that place herself. But yes, those adults could figure out how to jump to other places, at which point Omega's great new life has just become one of constantly popping around and bringing back her escaped prisoners. I'm not sure how she prevents them from leaving, except perhaps by threatening them with something, like "try to leave again and I'll harm Annie/Kat." But we don't know that she'd do that (yet). In any case ... Congratulations on your new improved quality of life, Omega! You'll enjoy it in the brief moments when you're not having to take action to stop Annie and Kat. Yeah, they have to sleep sometime, but so do you now. Does anyone need to eat and sleep in the distortion? Either way, if Annie and Kat do, Omega probably does too, as she has a NP body and it's been established that they have similar needs to humans.

[Corvo]

I know it's supposed to be this ominous, urgent thing and all, but for all they (and we) know, the person taken just needs to shove Omega off and remember Annie or the place they were a moment ago or however this thing works. So I got to ask, why exactly isn't Annie still in her father's house, calmly drinking tea while she waits for Tony to bwip or shf back so they can continue talking as if nothing happened?

~ Annie and Tony talking over tea, Omega shows up again ~
Tony: Oh, Omega dear, good of you to join us! What's your poison, chamomile or lemongrass?
Omega, taking a cup and sitting: Yeah, I didn't think this through. Man, not being able to see the future sucks! How do you guys do that?

[Gemminie]

Jul 31, 2024 15:29:02 GMT Corvo said:

I know it's supposed to be this ominous, urgent thing and all, but for all they (and we) know, the person taken just needs to shove Omega off and remember Annie or the place they were a moment ago or however this thing works. So I got to ask, why exactly isn't Annie still in her father's house, calmly drinking tea while she waits for Tony to bwip or shf back so they can continue talking as if nothing happened?

~ Annie and Tony talking over tea, Omega shows up again ~
Tony: Oh, Omega dear, good of you to join us! What's your poison, chamomile or lemongrass?
Omega, taking a cup and sitting: Yeah, I didn't think it through. Man, not being able to see the future sucks! How do you guys do that?

This is an excellent question. Considering Tony apparently didn't just pop back, there must be a reason why he didn't. Let's see, things we seem to know about distortion-travel:

• The distortion can make you think you're traveling when you really aren't, even simulating moving from one region to another when you're actually still in the same spot.
• To really move from one region to another requires evoking a memory of a person you've been with or a place you've been to.
• You can bring people with you even if they've never met that person or been to that place. That is, travel requires that only one of the travelers has been to the destination. This requires physical contact.
• You can induce someone you're in physical contact with to take you to someplace they've been but you haven't, by getting them to think of that place via persuasion, clever phrasing, etc.

So why didn't Tony just come back? Here are at least some possibilities, any or all of which could be wrong:

• Distortion-travel is a technique that requires some practice. It took Annie and the NP a while to figure it out after they started trying to get anywhere. Tony's pretty smart, but considering he was in his house when Omega, Annie, and Renard showed up, he apparently hasn't been trying to travel beyond just walking around (in his socks); he's starting from scratch just as Annie did.
• It requires more than one person with a common destination, or at least one person with an intended destination and another person who isn't fighting going there. At any point, have we ever seen a single lone individual BWIP to an actual other place within the distortion (although ... how did Shadow find Annie to get help with Robot?)? So if you're isolated, you're stuck where you are. Or if you're alone with one other person, and that other person has a different idea about where to be, you're stalemated.
• Omega has rendered Tony unconscious in some way – including murdering him once she got to where she wanted to be, but that would close off access to other places Tony's been to but she hasn't, so that seems unwise.
• Omega knows some way other than unconsciousness to prevent distortion-travel, some kind of anti-BWIP cage or field that prevents people leaving one distortion region for another.

[Gemini Jim]

Yeah, if Meg is collecting Gunnerkrigg Adults (TM) like a deranged Pokemon collector, she's going to need some sort of BWIP-proof supervillain lair, complete with BWIP-proof prisoner tubes.


Maybe she just needs to play Beastie Boys (or really, really loud classical music) at them on endless loop, to prevent them from concentrating on some other place or memory long enough to BWIP.

[silicondream]

I can't help thinking that Omega's about to recreate the Good Times. Keys in the bowl, everybody!

[Igniz]

Jul 31, 2024 8:11:40 GMT Cori said:

Calling it now: we're about to witness the second Omega kidnapping. She's going to take away all of the adults Annie knows who might be able to help, or be able to bring her to the actual nexus of the Omega device/the Court.

+1, I didn't think for a moment that Annie was looking for Don to ask for his help, but rather to prevent him from being abducted by Omega.

On a side note, this reminds me of the X-Men storyline "The Twelve", in which Apocalypse kidnapped twelve powerful mutants in order to carry out an elaborate plan (in his case, to siphon the energies ascend to godhood). Maybe Omega Sentinel is trying to do something similar.

Regarding Annie's clothes, I assume that they tattered and burn as a consequence of she using her flames when teleporting, but hey, who knows for sure?

[silicondream]

Jul 31, 2024 13:31:25 GMT morrahadesigns said:

It is curious though that they ended up where the Donlans got married. Did they figure out distortion hopping and go on a vacation? Or did it just sync up to an emotionally charged point for them?

It does support Omega's claim that most people in the distortion are having a great time.  Maybe Annie really is the biggest danger in there.

[jasmijn]

Megs, no swiping!

[imaginaryfriend]

As Jones once said, "If Coyote is correct, then all the horrors of mankind can be given form by the ether."

We know the elves were having a good time in the distortion. Hopefully they won't put in too much work building homes before it ends.

Anja is a bit of a special case, she's pretty sophisticated with the etheric tech and maybe just plain magic. Maybe the Donlans came here on purpose. It's a vacation place where they made special memories; it looks safe and while this wasn't shown there's probably somewhere nearby where they stayed, where they can find shelter, food, and facilities, and that'd be a great place to ride out the distortion. Maybe Don or Anja just happened to remember the vacation strongly enough that they bwipped here by accident. Alternatively, maybe one or both of them were experiencing some distress and took refuge in the memory of much better times they experienced and thus achieved literal escapism.

I'd think any Court researchers trapped in the distortion should have a good shot at dealing with whatever situations they find themselves in. Even if they aren't etherically enabled they should be able to grasp the situation and figure something out, as long as they don't panic too much and nothing too drastic happens. Some of them probably grew up in the Court and already have some experience with weirdness and odd situations. They've probably been coddled which is a two-edged sword in these circumstances, but I suspect overall works in their favor. They're less likely to vividly imagine danger into being.

The security people may be a very different story. I'd expect there to be at absolute minimum one patrol stuck between the center of the distortion and Gillite Wood, and if the past is a guide that'd be four humans and a couple head-crabbed robots. They probably didn't know what hit them. Their robots may or may not be working, their communications are probably down, they probably don't know where they are and some crazy stuff is happening. Maybe some of them grew up in the Court and have powers, but the fact that they're working security suggests they aren't the most adept at etheric theory. Maybe some of them have military or law enforcement backgrounds from outside the Court. Either way they're going to be much more focused on potential threats which can cause threats to literally materialize. If anyone's been in a life-or-death situation they may find themselves in it again (and again and again if they have PTSD).

If there's only a handful of people stuck in the distortion there's no way to predict but if there were multiple patrols out and hundreds of people stuck I'd expect 10% casualties in the first few hours (1:2 dead:incapacitated) and the same again after the first day, and same again by day three. That's just a guess, though.

[blahzor]

it's almost like Meg has seen future events or have been watching you enough to know where you might go to, to fix things

[blahzor]

Jul 31, 2024 15:16:37 GMT Corvo said:

So...


The obvious answer would be "Tony was there", but then where the heck is he now? I don't think she can send people to places alone, can she?

at best she probably forced Tony to come here, blink a way then come back immediately now that she knows it exist and has been there herself now, to get Kat's parents.

[Cori]

Aug 1, 2024 2:40:11 GMT blahzor said:

Jul 31, 2024 15:16:37 GMT Corvo said:

So...


The obvious answer would be "Tony was there", but then where the heck is he now? I don't think she can send people to places alone, can she?

at best she probably forced Tony to come here, blink a way then come back immediately now that she knows it exist and has been there herself now, to get Kat's parents.

One of my thoughts was that maybe Donny was where Tony and Omega wound up, and Omega decided to use him to track down Anja. Donny knew about the Omega device, as evidenced by his conversation in Tony's apartment, and he and Tony went on trips together to calibrate the device when they were young adults, so it's possible they are both still actively on the project.

Also, Omega explicitly said "I can't travel through the distortion alone; I need someone who has been to physical places". I take that to mean that she can't teleport alone, period, even if she did previously travel somewhere with someone. She's not filling out her minimap with fast travel spots. The body that we're seeing was created by the distortion but perhaps her "true" self is deeper within the court.

Jul 31, 2024 20:46:12 GMT Igniz said:

Regarding Annie's clothes, I assume that they tattered and burn as a consequence of she using her flames when teleporting, but hey, who knows for sure?

Possibly, but she didn't damage her clothing any of the previous times she teleported. We could chalk it up to Annie being in a heightened emotional state but it still feels to me that "something" happened between the end of the chapter and now, considering the chapter ended with her being confused rather than frantic.

[csj]

omega would be the most obnoxious pokemon fan

[morrahadesigns]

Jul 31, 2024 22:42:13 GMT silicondream said:

Jul 31, 2024 13:31:25 GMT morrahadesigns said:

It is curious though that they ended up where the Donlans got married. Did they figure out distortion hopping and go on a vacation? Or did it just sync up to an emotionally charged point for them?

It does support Omega's claim that most people in the distortion are having a great time.  Maybe Annie really is the biggest danger in there.

Is Annie actually a danger though, does ending the distortion really representthe possibility of harm? And while they may be having a good time is it actually safe there? Will it actually last? What is happening with Zimmy and Coyote?
And I don't care what arguments can be made for how many people could be helped, you don't make one person's life better by deliberately forcing another to suffer. 

[silicondream]

Aug 1, 2024 13:33:34 GMT morrahadesigns said:

Jul 31, 2024 22:42:13 GMT silicondream said:

It does support Omega's claim that most people in the distortion are having a great time.  Maybe Annie really is the biggest danger in there.

Is Annie actually a danger though, does ending the distortion really representthe possibility of harm? And while they may be having a good time is it actually safe there? 

I just meant that--so far--the only people we've seen in danger inside the distortion have been endangered by Annie herself.  The NP's only ran into these nasty beasties because Annie led them into the most Zimminghamish area, and Sam got skewered by Annie's memory of Jeanne. Other than that, the elves seem fine, Kat's neighborhood seems fine, and the Donlans are enjoying a vacation. I don't know that if that makes it "safe," but life in the peripheral Court hasn't been safe for a while now, and the Forest was never safe. This may be an improvement; more research needed.

Will it actually last? What is happening with Zimmy and Coyote?

More research needed...

And I don't care what arguments can be made for how many people could be helped, you don't make one person's life better by deliberately forcing another to suffer.

I mean, you do if you're in charge of the Court, the Forest, or basically any society in human history. Whether you should do that is another matter, but it's pretty much impossible to engage in military action, enforce the law, or acquire, manufacture and distribute limited resources without inflicting suffering.  We prefer to veil that suffering behind geographic or social distance, or excuse it as unforeseen consequences, but Omega has never had those luxuries.  She knows how the sausage is made.

[imaginaryfriend]

There's also the possibility of real etheric creatures having been trapped or being drawn into the distortion. It might power them up.

Terrain can be an enemy in itself. Initially, would they be drawn into either Zeta's Zimmingham, Coyote's desert, or Ysengrin's wood (which may or may not be a version of Gillite)? The first has Zeta's nightmare monsters and/or spiders. The second would have a pissed-off Coyotedawg with a sore sack. Shelter, food and water would be a problem in both of those. The third might have monsters, might have allies, would probably be the best spawn point.

[ctso74]

On one hand, you'd almost expect Kat to shrug and go "Another day that ends in Y", but if I were her, I'd be deeply confused as well.

[mturtle7]

Aug 2, 2024 13:25:00 GMT ctso74 said:

On one hand, you'd almost expect Kat to shrug and go "Another day that ends in Y", but if I were her, I'd be deeply confused as well.

It's a LOT easier to relax and go with the weird flow when that weird flow isn't touching on your own, DEEPLY PERSONAL, memories! Not to mention, you know, your parents and your BFF.