Story Friday April 15, 2016

[Scotty 1,061]

And Grace is too perfect for Tedd if you want to go that route. She shows up on Tedd's doorstep out of the blue, isn't phased by Tedd's snarkiness. Knows Tedd better than he knows himself, is interested in the same stuff he is, and encourages his scientific research. The only thing that makes her not some evil spy is the fact that Edward knows her history.

Nanase and Ellen, while they've had that one fight over hair. They've been pretty much inseparable, you could say they're perfect for each other as well. Why is it when Elliot finds someone he clicks with it must be someone who's intent is to use him?

[Xenophon Hendrix 47]

There are meta considerations. Usually, when an author sets up something that perfect, you can expect something bad to happen. If the strip wasn't primarily a comedy, I'd be expecting Ashley to get killed.

[Xenophon Hendrix 47]

PS: There is one major bit of foreshadowing.

[partner555 170]

6 minutes ago, Xenophon Hendrix said:

PS: There is one major bit of foreshadowing.

I think it's just Grace having hangups about the part where Elliot and Sarah breakup.

[ijuin 572]

How does a couple break up amicably? By having the breakup triggered by something other than anger at one another.

[InfiniteRemnant 141]

1 hour ago, ijuin said:

How does a couple break up amicably? By having the breakup triggered by something other than anger at one another.

still, were this not fiction I would have expected a period of protracted awkwardness with one or both of them at the very least.

[Drachefly 30]

It seems moderately awkward between them. Being able to produce the couch throw doesn't mean things aren't somewhat awkward.

[Scotty 1,061]

6 hours ago, Xenophon Hendrix said:

PS: There is one major bit of foreshadowing.

That's only because Grace hasn't met Ashley so she doesn't have anything to base whether Elliot and Ashley are good for each other on yet. Once she sees them together, her relationship senses will confirm anything. Although Sarah's shown to have relationship senses as well, whether or not they're as good as Graces remains to be seen but they both saw potential in Justin and Luke hooking up. So the fact that Sarah had good vibes from seeing them together would be a plus.

Heck, the fact that Sarah figured out what George's deal is might make her senses stronger than Grace's (or just more perceptive). That Sarah didn't see her and Elliot's relationship being doomed from the start just proves that her own feelings for someone could interfere with those senses.

 

20 minutes ago, Drachefly said:

It seems moderately awkward between them. Being able to produce the couch throw doesn't mean things aren't somewhat awkward.

I think the majority of the awkwardness was on Sarah's part, and it was when she first heard the rumours of Elliot being gay and she started to believe them. Of course that passed once she heard the origin of the rumour. Aside from that, I can't think of anything else. Oh wait, the MV5 moment when Ellen brought up the "like a sister" bit again but that too didn't last very long.

[Cpt. Obvious 73]

11 hours ago, InfiniteRemnant said:

case in point most people will never have even one amicable breakup, he's had two, and is still close with both his exes. how do you even DO that?!

I think it helps that though they liked and even love each other they were never really in love. Big difference.

Nanase dated Elliot as he was as close to the ideal man as she could find among her friends and acquaintances. Elliot on the other hand dated her because he liked her as a friend and when she approached him he really didn't understand the feelings of love and being in love. When they broke up neither of them felt that there was a big gaping hole where the other used to be, and so there were no hard feelings.

Sarah and Elliot dating was similar. They've known each other since they were toddlers, and though there were friendship and love, and some lust due to hormones, they were never truly in love. The breakup again showed that neither of them suffered the trauma of having their heart broken, nor were there much anger involved. There were some frustration but not much anger.

In both cases some feelings were a bit bruised, but no hearts were broken... The fact that none of them is a selfish a-hole does help.

[Scotty 1,061]

I don't think we were ever told how Nanase and Elliot started dating, though yeah I wouldn't be surprised if Nanase approached Elliot. They certainly would have met at the ASMA Dojo though.

[SeriousJupiter 49]

On 16.4.2016 at 5:04 AM, Xenophon Hendrix said:

My best guess for Sirleck's most probable spy is Colonel Sanders pretending to be mortal. Whitey wanted Elliot dead, and Sirleck needs him alive, but this could all be part of plan "complicated mess."

It's possible, I guess. Whitey might be pretending to help Sirleck to get both Elliot and Sirleck killed in the end. Somehow. Still, I think Sirleck's spy is most likely a character we haven't seen yet.

On 16.4.2016 at 6:14 AM, Don Edwards said:

If Sirleck is considering Elliot, or anyone known to be a close friend of Elliot, as a possible next host, he's a complete idiot. There are several fairly-high-power magic users in there - just among the human teenagers, and Sirleck should be aware of a minimum of one and possibly four or more. At least two of Elliot's friends have family connections - one of them extremely obvious - to DGB and full-blown wizards, There are three Immortals involved that we know Sirleck is aware of. That's a firing squad already assembling itself; stepping in front of it and yelling FIRE! would be Darwin-Award-worthy.

So what does Sirleck want with Elliot? To get rid of Magus.

Exactly. Just because Helena and Demetrius don't watch Elliot 24/7, it doesn't mean that they don't watch him at all anymore.

However, I don't think Sirleck wants to get rid of Magus at all. More like the exact opposite.

On 16.4.2016 at 3:41 PM, Scotty said:

That's just Magus though, but Magus not only looks like Elliot, but if his plan works, he'll be in Elliot's body and the number of people that know Elliot can at the very least be counted on both hands and feet, and I'm thinking that those around Elliot when Ellen zaps him will notice an immediate change in Elliot's behaviour.

Hmm, does Magus look exactly like Elliot? We've seen him in his physical form only once and that was years ago. They might look similar, but not identical. Also, it doesn't really matter because Magus would remain invisible while in Elliot's body and after gaining a body for himself he would most likely immediately start looking for a way home. Unless Sirleck manages to take over his body, that is.

Also also, Magus isn't really a bad guy and he is smart. I think he would do a very good job impersonating Elliot until he got his chance to slip away from everyone and get to the Diamond.

[hkmaly 490]

On 04/16/2016 at 1:17 AM, InfiniteRemnant said:

Unless they already have picked someone, by 'guiding' a train engineer to reach a certain crossing a few minutes early, ensuring a certain teen who was doubting her potential would be mostly alone and see first hand a situation where that potential is needed, motivating her to train and unlock it when an upcoming family reunion gives her that opportunity.

Who says Pandora and colonel are the only ones allowed to do things in roundabouts ways?

... Diane will not be ready to kill ANY Vampire this year even if she gets the training very seriously. Also, she's going to be part of main "eight" sooner than she learns how to kill vampires.

23 hours ago, Scotty said:

The only thing that makes her not some evil spy is the fact that Edward knows her history.

... technically, Grace WAS trained as assassin. She is qualified for the evil spy perfectly. Luckily for Ted, she was unemployed when she met him.

11 hours ago, Cpt. Obvious said:

Sarah and Elliot dating was similar. They've known each other since they were toddlers, and though there were friendship and love, and some lust due to hormones, they were never truly in love.

I'm not sure - Elliot definitely didn't loved Sarah, but it's possible Sarah actually loved Elliot. Still, in most breakups, the one who initiated the breakup suffers less. In this case, BOTH did initiated the breakup.

8 hours ago, Scotty said:

I don't think we were ever told how Nanase and Elliot started dating, though yeah I wouldn't be surprised if Nanase approached Elliot. They certainly would have met at the ASMA Dojo though.

Well I'm sure Elliot shown less initiative than with Ashley, which already wasn't that much.

22 hours ago, Xenophon Hendrix said:

There are meta considerations. Usually, when an author sets up something that perfect, you can expect something bad to happen. If the strip wasn't primarily a comedy, I'd be expecting Ashley to get killed.

Elliot was outed as Cheerleadra. While not directly caused by Ashley, it might be that bad thing which balanced out the perfectness, especially if it will result in real problems for him - or for THEM.

[Scotty 1,061]

5 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

... technically, Grace WAS trained as assassin. She is qualified for the evil spy perfectly. Luckily for Ted, she was unemployed when she met him.

Was there evidenced that her training had already begun before Damien attacked? We know Ellen tried training Grace in self defense before "Painted Black" and that wasn't going so well. The scientists at the facility might have tried to do some training, but her timid nature likely made it difficult.

[hkmaly 490]

5 minutes ago, Scotty said:

18 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

... technically, Grace WAS trained as assassin. She is qualified for the evil spy perfectly. Luckily for Ted, she was unemployed when she met him.

Was there evidenced that her training had already begun before Damien attacked? We know Ellen tried training Grace in self defense before "Painted Black" and that wasn't going so well. The scientists at the facility might have tried to do some training, but her timid nature likely made it difficult.

... right. Due to Damien, Grace didn't finished that training. Although, maybe the killing part is only one she didn't get to. She could do lot of spying without killing.

( Note: Yes, we don't have any evidence about her training. Her getting to Tedd might've been natural talent. )

[Scotty 1,061]

Well, she is a sleepy little ninja.... 

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

Okay, wild theory here, or maybe it's the opposite of wild?  Magus has seen enough of Elliot and his friends to know they're good people.  Once he gets zapped into Elliot's body, what if he just comes clean and *tells* them about how he got stranded in a strange dimension, and has been stuck invisibly watching his duplicate there?  He wouldn't have to tell them exactly how long he's been there, or about his ability to amplify emotions, or his working with Pandora, or any of that.  Just tell them that he's been watching Elliot, and when he saw Ellen about to zap Elliot, he had a flash of insight and realized he might be able to ride the beam into Elliot's body and be able to communicate with them.  Then he'd ask them to please help him.

He might even let them come up with the idea of using the Dewitchery Diamond on their own, once he explained his problem and asked for help.  If they're too slow to come up with it on their own, he could ask whether Ellen was also a duplicate from another dimension, as he had no twin back home.  (Most people seem pretty sure that Magus and Terra are alternates of Elliot and Tedd, but even if they aren't, if we believe it, why wouldn't they?)

Does anyone really think our Main Eight+ would say no?  Or would they head for the Dewitchery Diamond to help the poor stranded alternate-Elliot regain form and get back home?  Even if they took the matter to Mr. Verres, I could see him agreeing to it as long as he was convinced no harm would come to Elliot and that Magus's intentions were honorable.  So, instead of wild hijinx as possessed-Elliot makes a run for the DD and his friends try to stop him, we get a nice, calm, fully-approved trip to where it's stored.  Might even help keep Sirleck from double-crossing him, as it would be difficult to get into the facility and take possession under the watchful eye of Verres and company.

[ijuin 572]

Any plan involving the use of the Diamond will probably also result in having to tangle with Abraham again.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

2 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Okay, wild theory here, or maybe it's the opposite of wild?

That would be a tame theory. I am confident that our resident tender of animals is capable of drawing in a feral theory and taming it.

[Scotty 1,061]

6 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Okay, wild theory here, or maybe it's the opposite of wild?  Magus has seen enough of Elliot and his friends to know they're good people.  Once he gets zapped into Elliot's body, what if he just comes clean and *tells* them about how he got stranded in a strange dimension, and has been stuck invisibly watching his duplicate there?  He wouldn't have to tell them exactly how long he's been there, or about his ability to amplify emotions, or his working with Pandora, or any of that.  Just tell them that he's been watching Elliot, and when he saw Ellen about to zap Elliot, he had a flash of insight and realized he might be able to ride the beam into Elliot's body and be able to communicate with them.  Then he'd ask them to please help him.

He might even let them come up with the idea of using the Dewitchery Diamond on their own, once he explained his problem and asked for help.  If they're too slow to come up with it on their own, he could ask whether Ellen was also a duplicate from another dimension, as he had no twin back home.  (Most people seem pretty sure that Magus and Terra are alternates of Elliot and Tedd, but even if they aren't, if we believe it, why wouldn't they?)

Does anyone really think our Main Eight+ would say no?  Or would they head for the Dewitchery Diamond to help the poor stranded alternate-Elliot regain form and get back home?  Even if they took the matter to Mr. Verres, I could see him agreeing to it as long as he was convinced no harm would come to Elliot and that Magus's intentions were honorable.  So, instead of wild hijinx as possessed-Elliot makes a run for the DD and his friends try to stop him, we get a nice, calm, fully-approved trip to where it's stored.  Might even help keep Sirleck from double-crossing him, as it would be difficult to get into the facility and take possession under the watchful eye of Verres and company.

Magus know's Ellen is Elliot's duplicate through the dewitchery diamond, he's the one that amplified Tedd's emotions and caused him to zap Elliot in the first place, then Sirleck bribed the guard that let Elliot and Tedd get to the diamond. Magus also referred to himself as Ellen's "father" when he attempted to get her to zap Elliot at Grace's birthday. So if he were to play dumb about his involvement, he'd be lying.

I did mention a similar theory though a while back stating that Magus isn't necessarily a bad guy, he's just desperate to get back on the mortal plane and back to his reality and that he doesn't intend on harming Elliot, he just needs him to touch the diamond once Magus is inside him. Once split off and Elliot's back to normal again, Magus would likely go out on his own.

Although, if Magus isn't able to immediately get back to his reality, he'll need somewhere to stay right? The Dunkel's house may get a bit crowded and I don't think Magus would share the same priviledge Ellen has for sharing Elliot's bedroom.

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

Magus know's Ellen is Elliot's duplicate through the dewitchery diamond, he's the one that amplified Tedd's emotions and caused him to zap Elliot in the first place, then Sirleck bribed the guard that let Elliot and Tedd get to the diamond. Magus also referred to himself as Ellen's "father" when he attempted to get her to zap Elliot at Grace's birthday. So if he were to play dumb about his involvement, he'd be lying.

Yes, it would involve lying, most ikely sticking to lies of omission rather than outright falsehood.  Only question would be how good he'd be at it, and how long he could get away with it.  So far as I can recall, Les Immortals haven't actually seen much of Magus, just felt him using his power once (but likely not knowing what that power was) and saw him fleeing when they showed up.  At worst they could give away that he'd been watching Elliot longer than he'd said, to which he could reply that he didn't want to creep them out by admitting he'd been watching them for years....

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

I did mention a similar theory though a while back stating that Magus isn't necessarily a bad guy, he's just desperate to get back on the mortal plane and back to his reality and that he doesn't intend on harming Elliot, he just needs him to touch the diamond once Magus is inside him. Once split off and Elliot's back to normal again, Magus would likely go out on his own.

Exactly.  I think Magus would try to leave out the fact that he was responsible for Ellen's creation, that he manipulated their emotions (twice that we know of), and that he had been working with Pandora and Sirleck.  He'd tell them about being stranded in a strange world, unable to communicate or interact except with these scary monster things, some of which look more human than others, some of which chased after him (explaining why he ran from Les Immortals if it comes up).  He hasn't actually done anything all at bad.

Even if his relationship with Sirleck comes to light, what is the practical upshot of it?  Sirleck's host is already braindead, there's no helping him, and working with Magus had actualy delayed Sirleck moving on to a new host.  Magus could argue that was his goal, and that one reason he wanted to be able to communicate is so he could warn the Good Guys about Sirleck before he moved on.

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

Although, if Magus isn't able to immediately get back to his reality, he'll need somewhere to stay right? The Dunkel's house may get a bit crowded and I don't think Magus would share the same priviledge Ellen has for sharing Elliot's bedroom.

Or, more important, sharing Ellen's room....

[Scotty 1,061]

5 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Quote

Although, if Magus isn't able to immediately get back to his reality, he'll need somewhere to stay right? The Dunkel's house may get a bit crowded and I don't think Magus would share the same priviledge Ellen has for sharing Elliot's bedroom.

Or, more important, sharing Ellen's room....

Considering Ellen and Elliot still share the same room, my thought still applies.

[hkmaly 490]

18 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Does anyone really think our Main Eight+ would say no?  Or would they head for the Dewitchery Diamond to help the poor stranded alternate-Elliot regain form and get back home?  Even if they took the matter to Mr. Verres, I could see him agreeing to it as long as he was convinced no harm would come to Elliot and that Magus's intentions were honorable.  So, instead of wild hijinx as possessed-Elliot makes a run for the DD and his friends try to stop him, we get a nice, calm, fully-approved trip to where it's stored.

... you're right. It is entirely possible that if Magus will omit few details like almost making Edward kill Abraham then main eight will actually try to help him. Although convincing Mr. Verres will be crucial: I doubt the main eight would be able to find the Diamond again on their own.

9 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Even if his relationship with Sirleck comes to light, what is the practical upshot of it?  Sirleck's host is already braindead, there's no helping him, and working with Magus had actualy delayed Sirleck moving on to a new host.  Magus could argue that was his goal, and that one reason he wanted to be able to communicate is so he could warn the Good Guys about Sirleck before he moved on.

This would be tricky. He will need to warn them about Sirleck soon enough if he would want to argue that he wanted to. On the other hand, he MIGHT claim that he didn't realized what Sirleck is. Or, he might hope his relationship with Sirleck will NOT come to light.

[Scotty 1,061]

1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

... you're right. It is entirely possible that if Magus will omit few details like almost making Edward kill Abraham then main eight will actually try to help him. Although convincing Mr. Verres will be crucial: I doubt the main eight would be able to find the Diamond again on their own.

That's assuming the diamond got moved after the incident, the facility was extremely low security as it was, the guard was probably like "well, those kids probably learned their lesson and won't come back."

[hkmaly 490]

7 minutes ago, Scotty said:

1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

... you're right. It is entirely possible that if Magus will omit few details like almost making Edward kill Abraham then main eight will actually try to help him. Although convincing Mr. Verres will be crucial: I doubt the main eight would be able to find the Diamond again on their own.

That's assuming the diamond got moved after the incident, the facility was extremely low security as it was, the guard was probably like "well, those kids probably learned their lesson and won't come back."

... weird. I though I read somewhere that the diamond was moved, but it's not on end of Sisters nor Sisters II and wiki specifically says we don't know if it was moved, so maybe I misremember it ...

[Scotty 1,061]

Yeah I couldn't find anything that specifically says the diamond was moved. It's possible that it was, but it's just as possible that it wasn't. If it was moved, either Magus saw it get moved and knows where it went, or he didn't see it and would have to rely on getting Edward to help find it.