[227] Story Discussion - Cousins

[Aspen d'Grey]

Hmm... so, Reynardine has a cousin, and he calls the shadows the 'glass eyed men'

Answers! Yay! But more questions, too. Like, who's Rey's cousin? Anothey one of his kind, I assume ,and unbound. Maybe the opposite of Reynardine- whereas Reynardine is technological (lockpicks) and is bound to the court, his cousin (VNM?) is bound to the forest in some fashion.

[Lotus]

Heh...Princess Kat XD

Too bad...we finally start getting an explanation, then Reynardine pops back into plushie form. Disappointing...

[fjodor]

The way Kat looks in the last frame is almost enough to make me fall in love with her. If I were a comic character that is. And hey, I said 'almost' didn't I?

[UbiquitousDragon]

fjodor said:

The way Kat looks in the last frame is almost enough to make me fall in love with her. If I were a comic character that is. And hey, I said 'almost' didn't I?

Heh, she is very very cute. I also like Tom's nice touch of having 'Robot' (no idea what to call him in Kat's contraption) watching/staring at Reynardine too.

Verrry intriguing. Glass eyed men is an interesting development, as is Rey's cousin hrumm.

[todd]

More interesting developments here, especially the revelation of Reynardine's cousin.

And I was also amused by the "Princess Kat" part. Maybe Annie had better take over Shadow2's English lessons.

Incidentally, this is one thing that I like about the comic. The individual pages don't only continue the story; each one contains some moment that is, in itself, memorable and entertaining (the robots' eccentricities, Reynardine becoming a white wolf and finding a novel use for Annie's lockpicks, Kat teaching Shadow2 how to speak, etc.).

[yeochild]

The idea of Rey having a cousin is dwarfed by the idea of Rey having family. Having a cousin would entail having a mother, father, uncle, grandmother and grandfather. Do demons/spirits/incarnations/whatever-the-hell-Reynardine-is-s even have family? Or perhaps, Reynardine considers whoever made/summoned him to be his mother/father, and any creation of their brother or sister to be his cousin. Time will tell.

Oh, and does this mean that Annie doesn't regard Reynardine's usual babblings as "interesting"?

[fjodor]

Good point Yeochild. How do body snatchers procreate if they have no real body themselves?

[eggie]

This page is just loaded with adorability.

[Uglyhead]

Just because Rey's a body snatcher doesn't mean his whole family/people necessarily are. He might be unique among them, or they might have other sorts of abilities.

Funny that he has such animosity towards the forest as well. Maybe they kicked him out, or more likely, he's wanted by the authorities on both sides of the river.

[owl]

Huh. Well, I think it establishes a point that Rey and TVNM defintely have some prior connection...

and my other thoughts belong in wild speculation.

[mrw]

Wow, major revelations!
So what about this cousin, Reynardine? What is his/her goal? Out with it!
Dang stuffed animals. They never talk when you really need 'em to.

And "Princess Kat" - I love it! She deserves it, really. She's adorable.

I think Shadow2 is going to have a very critical part to play in the future. Annie's decency and open-mindedness will pay off a thousand times over.
(...I hope!)

[Broadus]

But now it's like "evil versus evil" or something. The evil Reynardine and his evil cuz. "Lesser of two evils" business. I think you know where I'm going with this.

[mrw]

If it were the real world, the forces of "good" would team up with the "lesser evil" to defeat the "greater evil", but in the process of defeating the "greater evil" becoming corrupted and evil themselves. As observers, we become dark and cynical, slowly drowning is a cesspool of ennui.

In the fictional world, that may still happen, but there would be some chance of redemption at the end. True underlying good prevails. As observers, we enjoy a white-knuckle ride and conclude feeling exhilarated, alive, and eager for more.

Which one will it be?

(wierd mood lately, sorry...)

[aidan]

fjodor said:

The way Kat looks in the last frame is almost enough to make me fall in love with her.

Truth.

yeochild said:

The idea of Rey having a cousin is dwarfed by the idea of Rey having family. Having a cousin would entail having a mother, father, uncle, grandmother and grandfather. Do demons/spirits/incarnations/whatever-the-hell-Reynardine-is-s even have family? Or perhaps, Reynardine considers whoever made/summoned him to be his mother/father, and any creation of their brother or sister to be his cousin. Time will tell.

Well, the current usage of "cousin" alone typically means "first cousin", but

1. A child of one's aunt or uncle. Also called first cousin.
2. A relative descended from a common ancestor, such as a grandparent, by two or more steps in a diverging line.
3. A relative by blood or marriage; a kinsman or kinswoman.
4. A member of a kindred group or country.
5. Something similar in quality or character.
6. Used as a form of address by a sovereign in addressing another sovereign or a high-ranking member of the nobility.

4 and 5 would not be very informative, no presupposition of other relatives. I can see Reynardine and his ilk considering themsleves sovereigns and using #6 among themselves. Or it could indeed be his relative.

fjodor said:

Good point Yeochild. How do body snatchers procreate if they have no real body themselves?

Or it could follow the pattern of they're from Elsewhere, where most of them go about their business in usual fashion with bodies and procreation and such. But some come over here, but to survive in this place they need to borrow resident bodies. Or the bodysnatcher form could be the larval state.

[nickgoodway]

If Rey means Shadow2 when he talks about the 'glass eyed men' , which he certainly seems to, does that mean he could posess a shadow (if Annie gave him permission) or would a shadow, capable of posession itself, put up too much of a fight?

[Jarakin]

nickgoodway said:

If Rey means Shadow2 when he talks about the 'glass eyed men' , which he certainly seems to, does that mean he could posess a shadow (if Annie gave him permission) or would a shadow, capable of posession itself, put up too much of a fight?

Reynardine is a very tricky being, but I don't think he can lie to Anne as long as she controls him. And he very specifically said that he could possess anything with eyes. He has no reason to want to impress her, so I think he was speaking the literal truth.

Shadow2 (And the other shadow people we've seen have eyes. So, yeah. probably.

[Count Casimir]

I find it significant that he said "fool cousin" instead of just cousin. If he'd said "cousin", he could've meant something that was born of the ethereal Otherside just like him; in that case, ALL demon body-snatchers would be cousins, more or less. But he said "fool cousin." This suggests to me that TVNM or the Green-eyed Man (if they're not one and the same, which they seem to be) is, quite literally, Rey's cousin.

But PRAISE JA for answers! Tom, you are a savior (but we all knew that already).

[mrw]

One thing I can't quite reconcile is this:

Reynardine said "It's a wonder my fool cousin hasn't already retaliated" right after the comment about "capturing one of their glass-eyed men" (clearly referring to Shadow2).

If Reynardine's cousin is The Very Nice Creepy Green Eyed Man, or in league with same, would the retaliation be for:
a) The Court sending a robot (hated technology) into the wood (in which case, isn't possessing said robot and returning to the Court considered retaliation?
b) The Court "kidnapping" one of the shadow-men, same counterarg as (a)
c) Eglamore's destroying the possessed robot and accompanying shadow-man, in which case retaliation is forthcoming
d) keeping Reynardine captive (could all this have been a botched rescue attempt?)

If Reynardine's cousin is not in league with TVNM and is actually working for the Court's cause somehow, would the retaliation be for:
e) attempting to kill Reynardine
f) attempting to infiltrate the Court
g) attempting to kill Annie (unlikely, she just seems to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time)

Choice (c) seems most likely to me at this point. It fits well with the knee-jerk "eye for an eye (for an eye (for an eye (for an eye ....)))" perpetual nature of most conflicts.

Maybe this really belongs in the Wild Spec thread?

[La Poire]

Concerning Reynardine's cousin – now, I'm not really saying this is what I believe the most probable solution, but anyway: is there any reason why two people, both possessed by Reynardine or others, couldn't have a child the old fashioned way? This would depend on quite a few things though, for example, when a body is possessed, is it technically still alive, and if not, would a child of two possessed humans be a demon-possessed child, just a demon, an ordinary child or some kind of symbiotic creature? Perhaps this should be in Wild Speculation, but it is relevant to the current comic.

[Aspen d'Grey]

One word that totally describes the awesomeness of this episode:




*POP*