[2994] "...sounds like a HER problem!"

[imaginaryfriend]

I got mine, so what if she got hers..?

I'm still not sure that Bugsy understands death let alone what's going on so I'm withholding judgement so far, but I'm not liking her attitude one bit. Red displayed a very dissimilar attitude towards Antimony regarding a slightly-similar circumstance though that involved risking harm to Ayilu, someone she loved, though she also called Antimony out on risking her other friends.

On the other hand: This attitude may show that Bugsy did assimilate into the Court better than I thought, I guess.

[arf]

Something was once said about fairies being jerks?

[rafk]

I'm pretty sure this is mostly out of ignorance and the cultural (or etheric species thing) of not treating other fairies as real people until they get names, but the attitude still pushes lots of buttons.

[laaaa]

They should try naming her. This MIGHT do the trick.
Or if it's too late for her they should name everyone else. It seems to me like, because lavender wasn't "a person" yet, her spirit, her potential, just vanished once drained.

[lisanela]

Well damn, I know someone who fell out of the coconut tree..

[Blitz]

skill issue

[yellowb]

I don't think that "a" should be in this sentence. Shouldn't it be just "sounds like HER problem"? A mistake by Tom, I'd guess, unless Bugsy decided to start talking like Chico Marx.

[aggadahGothic]

The people of the Court and the creatures of the forest do not seem so different ultimately. In the previous chapter, it was Omega who was being so callous and selfish.

It is easy to be somewhat lost in the recent chapters but I suspect all of this is building towards Antimony needing to, in equal parts, affirm and reject both the Court and the forest in order to make a better world. They are all, as it were, jerks.

[aggadahGothic]

Sept 16, 2024 7:42:17 GMT yellowb said:

I don't think that "a" should be in this sentence. Shouldn't it be just "sounds like HER problem"? A mistake by Tom, I'd guess, unless Bugsy decided to start talking like Chico Marx.

'Sounds like a you problem' is a not uncommon idiom. Simply imagine 'her problem' as akin to a compound noun: 'a her-problem'. It is a humorous turn of phrase.

[yellowb]

Sept 16, 2024 7:46:54 GMT aggadahGothic said:

Sept 16, 2024 7:42:17 GMT yellowb said:

I don't think that "a" should be in this sentence. Shouldn't it be just "sounds like HER problem"? A mistake by Tom, I'd guess, unless Bugsy decided to start talking like Chico Marx.

'Sounds like a you problem' is a not uncommon idiom. Simply imagine 'her problem' as akin to a compound noun: 'a her-problem'. It is a humorous turn of phrase.

I'm not a native English speaker, but if something can be "a YOU problem", then shouldn't it be "a SHE problem" in this case?

[aggadahGothic]

Sept 16, 2024 7:51:44 GMT yellowb said:

Sept 16, 2024 7:46:54 GMT aggadahGothic said:

'Sounds like a you problem' is a not uncommon idiom. Simply imagine 'her problem' as akin to a compound noun: 'a her-problem'. It is a humorous turn of phrase.

I'm not a native English speaker, but if something can be "a YOU problem", then shouldn't it be "a SHE problem" in this case?

In English, we use the 'accusative' form (also called the oblique form) of the pronoun in these situations. It just so happens that the accusative form of 'you' is simply 'you'.

'A me problem'. 'A him problem'. 'A her problem'. 'A you problem'. 'An us problem'.

[blahzor]

Gonna be egg on Bugsy's face when she finds out they can name themselves

[Geekette]

Dangit. Omega's Advocate gets first point again. The devil is not supposed to win.

[worldsong]

Turns out fairies and forest people are also capable of not being very nice.

Makes you wonder how much of that quirky attitude they're known for is actually quirky and how much of it is a legitimate lack of consideration for others.

On average, that is.

[hoob]

"But Bugsy, someone's lifted the ladder up!"
"So? I've already climbed it!"

Apropos of nothing, anyone looked at house prices recently?
---
One of the podcasts I listen to reviws movies, and a frequent point made by characters in these early 2000s movies is "Oh my job sucks" or "my apartment is so awful."

Every time without fail, the hosts mention how even though they believe that it sucked back then, things are so much worse now.

The horrible rental flat of the depressed coworker? Absolutely gorgeous and spacious by modern standards. Your cubicle sucks your soul? I believe you, but you have a permanent place to put your stapler, nevermind decorate.

[pyradonis]

Bugsy got into the pyramid scheme early enough to get paid out and now just shrugs and says that it sucks for the others now that it's coming apart.

[morrahadesigns]

Dang Bugsy, that is COLD.

[davidm]

great wage... work for years and get a name

[rabbit]

There may a bit of cultural dissonance going on here. As imaginaryfriend points out, Bugsy may not understand death, or at least may understand it differently. Recall the fairies asking Annie to bash them to death early in the story so that they could transform into humans? For fairy folk, death may seem more far less threatening than to other mortals.

Also, fairies can be jerks.

One pretty good bet, though, is that Bugs just threw gasoline on Annie's fire. Please step back from the screen before the next episode.

[TBeholder]

Sept 16, 2024 7:07:51 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

I'm still not sure that Bugsy understands death let alone what's going on

This may be normal for her. Or the fairies in general. However annoying to those around, it’s not a maladaptive response. It is in fact more natural and sane than «do… something!».
She is hopelessly out of her depth. A problem may go away (though unlikely in this case), or it may not. She has nothing to contribute either way.
Of course, this approach is even less likely to solve anything than «run in circles, scream and shout», but at least she will neither get underfoot if someone else can do something useful, nor waste anyone’s time.
If you really want something to be unsettled about, think why the above considerations, while trivial, seem quite unthinkable for so many people.

[imaginaryfriend]

RE: Soul-sucking cubicle and pyramid scheme metaphors: If I correctly understand what's going on, I think that when the distortion turned the devices into tendrils the metaphorical connection to the Star Ocean became a semi-metaphorical one, and that's enough of a connection for the Foley kids to be ether-drained. The draining and Lavender's death are abnormal. A better metaphor would be dairy cows. I think what we've got here is a dairy cow that completed her stint as a milk-producer and has been retired to a "boss cow" role, leading the younger ones around. Now the milking machines have gone haywire causing the younger cows to be electrocuted and the "boss cow" is looking on thinking, "Wow! I dunno what happened here but I did my time and it worked out good for me so if that one that just exploded became meat somehow I guess them's the breaks. The farmer and I are on great terms. Ha, ha!" That "Ha, ha!" is very troubling but I still think Bugsy isn't fully up to speed here.

If Antimony decides to try saving the kids by naming them all one after the other I wonder if Bugsy will suddenly freak out and try to stop her because that's putting people in danger.

In other news: Kids still dying.  Still not seeing any reason to delay cutting the tendrils. Also: I have the bad feeling that Antimony is going to try to engage Bugsy in an ethical/philosophical debate instead of concentrating on saving the kids now.

Other things on the to-do list: Check on Smitface, see if he's being drained in a similar way to the Foley kids.

[Hatredman]

Sept 16, 2024 7:59:12 GMT blahzor said:

Gonna be egg on Bugsy's face when she finds out they can name themselves

That's cheating!

[Gemminie]

Bugsy's "And this means ..." from the previous page appears to actually be a statement of neither knowing nor caring what it means. Annie tries to explain, kneeling down and showing her the tendrils, but Bugsy doesn't know what the star ocean even is. She explains that the distortion has changed things and that the students are being drained to death.

Full portrait of Bugsy here, the lovable monster, in which she says they all agreed to this (though I doubt they agreed to being drained to death in the case of a global reality-altering distortion that was impossible to foresee unless perhaps you're Omega) in exchange for a name. She's got hers, so the rest can go hang. I don't think she's going to be much help.

Now, Annie gave Red a name, and Red sort of gave Ayilu a name too, so we're unlikely to see the two of them here. They've got their names. They've moved on. But that does suggest how Annie can save the rest of the students. She can go on a naming binge. Each student who gets a name can leave. Take that, star ocean. Of course, the problem then is that each Foley student who isn't feeding the star ocean increases the load on Zimmy/Coyote by some amount. But I don't see how Annie can leave things the way they are in good conscience, because every student here is going to die eventually once the Court fully drains them, unless she takes action. She can save their lives or leave them to die.

Still wondering what the Court was planning to do for an Ether source before the distortion occurred. Did Omega predict it? Did she suggest courses of action that were likely to lead to it?

[imaginaryfriend]

Sept 16, 2024 14:20:52 GMT TBeholder said:

Sept 16, 2024 7:07:51 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

I'm still not sure that Bugsy understands death let alone what's going on

This may be normal for her. Or the fairies in general. However annoying to those around, it’s not a maladaptive response. It is in fact more natural and sane than «do… something!».

Remains to be seen. I think Antimony and Kat have had enough information to take productive action for a while now. Delaying too long is just as bad as acting too quickly. A poorly-considered intervention can be catastrophic, but so can fiddling and dithering when action is urgently required.

Maybe the conventional wisdom has changed recently but it used to be the case that in a mass casualty event where there's something in the environment that's killing people the first thing to do is get the casualties to safety. Once everyone's out of the burning building or subway full of chlorine gas (or whatever) then you can check vitals, resuscitate people who've stopped breathing, and look for wounds that are causing people to bleed out.

Sept 16, 2024 14:20:52 GMT TBeholder said:

She is hopelessly out of her depth. A problem may go away (though unlikely in this case), or it may not. She has nothing to contribute either way. Of course, this approach is even less likely to solve anything than «run in circles, scream and shout», but at least she will neither get underfoot if someone else can do something useful, nor waste anyone’s time.

I'm not sure about that in two different ways. Bugsy has been these kids' teacher for a good while and thus knows how to conclude class. She must have done it hundreds of times at the end of the school day or when it's time for lunch or a break (assuming they get lunch or breaks). She can probably do it now just by saying something. Also, it may prove to be the case that Bugsy is not only fine with the kids being worked to death but sees it as her role as a teacher to prevent efforts to interfere with them dying. Not everyone in the same culture agrees on everything, so while my default assumption is that Bugsy and Red would probably both want to avoid unnecessary deaths among the Foleys... maybe not. People from the same culture can hold polar opposite opinions, even on very important things.

Sept 16, 2024 14:20:52 GMT TBeholder said:

If you really want something to be unsettled about, think why the above considerations, while trivial, seem quite unthinkable for so many people.

You would probably be surprised the amount of time I spend thinking about crisis management and communication and how deeply frustrated I am at how little time other people devote to thinking about it even when it is directly related to their jobs.

Fun introduction to the topic for those who haven't seen it yet: Internet Historian's video The Cost of Concordia

[Igniz]

Faeries in a nutshell:

[Sky Schemer]

Sept 16, 2024 7:44:32 GMT aggadahGothic said:

The people of the Court and the creatures of the forest do not seem so different ultimately. In the previous chapter, it was Omega who was being so callous and selfish.

It is easy to be somewhat lost in the recent chapters but I suspect all of this is building towards Antimony needing to, in equal parts, affirm and reject both the Court and the forest in order to make a better world. They are all, as it were, jerks.

A faery is a tactical jerk. Nominal yield is 50 kilojerks. About 5 times your average jerk's social impact.

Omega is a megajerk, capable of being a jerk to tens of thousands of people all at once.

There's also a key difference: the faeries are jerks by nature. Omega became a jerk by choice.

[TBeholder]

Sept 16, 2024 14:23:29 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

If I correctly understand what's going on, I think that when the distortion turned the devices into tendrils the metaphorical connection to the Star Ocean became a semi-metaphorical one, and that's enough of a connection for the Foley kids to be ether-drained. The draining and Lavender's death are abnormal.

Or, it was not so conductive when it was mostly dry. This seems to me by far the most plausible possibility, as well. Currently.
Of course, knowing how GKC plot went so far, well… I would not bet the next page or two will not turn this upside down, too.

Sept 16, 2024 15:12:11 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

it used to be the case that in a mass casualty event where there's something in the environment that's killing people the first thing to do is get the casualties to safety.

That’s more useful information than Bugsy has here, however.

Sept 16, 2024 15:12:11 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

Bugsy has been these kids' teacher for a good while and thus knows how to conclude class. She must have done it hundreds of times at the end of the school day or when it's time for lunch or a break (assuming they get lunch or breaks). She can probably do it now just by saying something.

Yes, but it’s exactly “do something” response she would not have. She does not know not only that this will fix anything, but even that this will not make things worse.
It’s easy to find arguments for either, but in the end, that would be just so, our guess.

Sept 16, 2024 15:12:11 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

You would probably be surprised the amount of time I spend thinking about crisis management and communication and how deeply frustrated I am at how little time other people devote to thinking about it even when it is directly related to their jobs.

Which is why so many end up out of their depth easier than they ought to be. Which in practice tend to leave them between blind panic run, catatonic non-response or delusions, doesn’t it?

Sept 16, 2024 15:12:11 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

Fun introduction to the topic for those who haven't seen it yet: Internet Historian's video The Cost of Concordia

Or consider Titanic. Once things went from bad to really bad, they were so unprepared that going “Now let’s do an improvised theatre play on the Sinking Birkenhead!” was probably the best organized response they could pull at all. Which unsurprisingly led to as much of counterproductive milling around as it was actually helping anyone.

[Gemini Jim]

Wow. At this point, I would not be shocked if Annie decided to do a Scooby Doo denouement, only to discover Omega or Coyote wearing a pink wig and Bugsy mask.


The other options, assuming that this is actually Bugsy and not some Distortion-induced nightmare... is Bugsy is completely ignorant and clueless. (i.e., doesn't get that death is a bad thing, permanent, not just a long nap, etc.);

or Bugsy bought completely into the Court's plan, and is contractually obligated to be heartless.

[imaginaryfriend]

Sept 16, 2024 17:28:52 GMT TBeholder said:

Sept 16, 2024 14:23:29 GMT imaginaryfriend said:

You would probably be surprised the amount of time I spend thinking about crisis management and communication and how deeply frustrated I am at how little time other people devote to thinking about it even when it is directly related to their jobs.

Which is why so many end up out of their depth easier than they ought to be. Which in practice tend to leave them between blind panic run, catatonic non-response or delusions, doesn’t it?

There are rare instances where people make a catastrophically bad decision out of the blue and then freak out. Sometimes people do horrific things deliberately but that's also pretty rare. What you're describing is usually just the cherry on top of a sundae made of many scoops of crap decisions.

When analyzing a disaster there's a tendency to find one isolated factor on which to hang blame, but the vast majority of the time that's a low-res take on what actually happened. Generally tragedies are the result of a string of sub-optimal decisions any one of which would have no or minimal consequences most of the time, in many cases nearly all of the time. One thing that happens on the regular is normalization of deviance. People will cut corners and ignore those fiddly safety rules and security procedures because more than 999 times out of 1,000 there will be no consequences in doing so. Doing slightly risky things becomes standard operating procedure and everything's fine, often for years... until it's not. It's not about being out of their depth, they just keep doing such things until eventually enough circumstances align that they become channelized into making bigger and bigger bad decisions, and then the shit hits the fan and they panic and shut down or freak out. I suppose it's human nature to have a preference for short-term benefits, especially if they think that even if there are bad consequences it won't affect them.

[peachpie]

Ah. Bugsy believes in the meritocracy.