Story comic for Weds, May 11, 2016

[ijuin 572]

6 hours ago, Duke of Pretzels said:

Their exuberance is incredibly endearing, and I think it's great that Ellen has an immediate good impression of Ashley. I really like this comic!

 

Ellen is still close enough mentally to Elliot that she can easily notice just what Elliot sees in Ashley.

[Stature 96]

But please remember, not every nice person is innocent and goody-goody.

[ChaosSepher 10]

Nanasuspicions aside, I freaking love Elliott and Ashley as a couple.  They are just so goshdarned sweet and cute together and I wanna see them together forever!  :3

[The Phoenixian 9]

1 hour ago, Stature said:

But please remember, not every nice person is innocent and goody-goody.

I very much doubt it's what's happening, but It would amuse me greatly if Ashley learned manipulation from Tom and is just 1) less malicious and 2) infinitely better at it than he ever was.

[Scotty 1,061]

You know, I'm actually trying to imagine how Ashley's going to describe her date to Liz and how much Liz has probably heard by now. I can see many "uhhhhhh"s.

11 hours ago, hkmaly said:

I don't think so. Grace really thinks about time. Nanase is suspicious of WHO he is dating.

 

I meant more in that they're both worried about Elliot. But yeah it makes sense for Nanase to be suspicious, she doesn't know Ashley, and the fact that she recently had a discussion with Edward about why there's a need to keep magic a secret, I can see her being feeling weird about Ashley knowing about things yet not trying to learn more. Nanase's probably thinking "Everyone who'd find out about magic would be asking all sorts of questions right now, but she isn't, does she know more than she's letting on, Diane was never this calm about it!"

[Sweveham 65]

Aww, Elliot and Ashley are so cute together here. It's charming enough to quell my suspicions at least.

Although, it would be a truly twisted twist if Ashley turned out to be evil.

[InfiniteRemnant 141]

2 hours ago, The Phoenixian said:

3 hours ago, Stature said:

But please remember, not every nice person is innocent and goody-goody.

I very much doubt it's what's happening, but It would amuse me greatly if Ashley learned manipulation from Tom and is just 1) less malicious and 2) infinitely better at it than he ever was.

er... yeah... the only way i can see that happening is if she was so oblivious to his methods that the ones she picked up were subconscious, and she doesn't even know she's doing it. otherwise there would be a shift in her behavior when no one (but the audience) is watching...

[Haylo 57]

1 hour ago, Sweveham said:

Aww, Elliot and Ashley are so cute together here. It's charming enough to quell my suspicions at least.

Although, it would be a truly twisted twist if Ashley turned out to be evil.

What if Ashley has collected a whole lot of secrets from living in Moperville and is already used to things she shouldn't ask about, and also used to keeping secrets from one source confidential from other unrelated sources?

 

[Scotty 1,061]

What if Ashley's secretly there to help protect Elliot, like she knew about Voltaire before we saw her run into him in the mall and is trying to prevent him from killing Elliot. She's already been able to thwart plan A, she may be instrumental in thwarting plan CM as well.

[ijuin 572]

5 hours ago, The Phoenixian said:

I very much doubt it's what's happening, but It would amuse me greatly if Ashley learned manipulation from Tom and is just 1) less malicious and 2) infinitely better at it than he ever was.

So then the "Don't tell me anything" bit really is reverse psychology?

[The Old Hack 2,448]

6 hours ago, The Phoenixian said:

I very much doubt it's what's happening, but It would amuse me greatly if Ashley learned manipulation from Tom and is just 1) less malicious and 2) infinitely better at it than he ever was.

Well, if anyone would be an expert on manipulation, it would be Phoenixon.

Good to see you, and welcome back, old friend.

[Matoyak 51]

42 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

Well, if anyone would be an expert on manipulation, it would be Phoenixon.

Good to see you, and welcome back, old friend.

"Ah, my old foe, Nixon!"

[AFNB 39]

3 hours ago, Scotty said:

What if Ashley's secretly there to help protect Elliot, like she knew about Voltaire before we saw her run into him in the mall and is trying to prevent him from killing Elliot. She's already been able to thwart plan A, she may be instrumental in thwarting plan CM as well.

Unlikely, given her reaction to him.

Also, Elliot now has his own Grace apparently.

[sstabeler 8]

8 hours ago, InfiniteRemnant said:

er... yeah... the only way i can see that happening is if she was so oblivious to his methods that the ones she picked up were subconscious, and she doesn't even know she's doing it. otherwise there would be a shift in her behavior when no one (but the audience) is watching...

I think you're closer to the truth there- on an unintentional level, anyway- than you think. Remember that both Nanase and Elliot have ended up wanting to spill things to her, despite her not actually wanting them to betray anyone's secrets.

 

In all seriousness, though, I don't think Ashley is evil in any fashion. There are  genuinely nice people, and bear in mind that this is only the second storyline she's been involved in in any fashion.more than as a peripheral character. It's entirely possible that the reason she seems unnaturally good is we just haven't seen enough of her yet. She's not an absolute angel- I have no doubt her tendency to get lost in books in the bookstore irritates the crap out of Liz- and i think the reason people are suspicious is because she can come off as too perfect.Add to that the fact that she is almost too perfect a girlfriend for Elliot- her actually having a fetish for transformations probably throws a lot of people off- and various characters being surprised at how quickly Elliot asked Ashley out and you have a simple explanation for why people are suspicious of her.

[Scrapyard_Dragon 5]

1 hour ago, AFNB said:

Also, Elliot now has his own Grace apparently.

The moment Ashley & Grace meet the world will implode from cuteness and the void ill echo with an eternal "squee"

[Sargon 3]

I think Nanase may be a bit jealous: When she fell in love with Ellen, all she knew about her was that she was a female version of Elliot... I think she likes Elliot, and would date him if she weren't into chicks... she just isn't sexually attracted to him.

But I think the main reason she feels suspicious is that she feels that Ashley is too good a thing and she came too easily into Elliot's life. In Nanase's experience, getting into a fulfilling relationship like this is hard: She dated like a hundred people (some of them quite awful, it seems) before finding her perfect match...

 

 

[hkmaly 490]

19 hours ago, Scotty said:

If you're talking about during Abraham's attack, I think that can be explained by the fact that transforming her hair wasn't actually enough to make new dolls. She could only make the two because one was linked to Ellen, and the other to Grace. Adrian's barriers were also meant to block all manner of entry either physically or magically, though Abraham obviously had some way of getting through.

The two she made were IN ADDITION to doll Ellen already had. TWO dolls actually. So the change of hair worked at least once.

11 hours ago, ChaosSepher said:

Nanasuspicions aside, I freaking love Elliott and Ashley as a couple.  They are just so goshdarned sweet and cute together and I wanna see them together forever!  :3

Me to, but people freak out when I get more specific. In this case, however, TF gun backup might be enough.

9 hours ago, InfiniteRemnant said:

er... yeah... the only way i can see that happening is if she was so oblivious to his methods that the ones she picked up were subconscious, and she doesn't even know she's doing it. otherwise there would be a shift in her behavior when no one (but the audience) is watching...

Agree, if she would be pretending something consciously, she would stop if we are only one looking. But also agree that if she does it subconsciously ...

55 minutes ago, sstabeler said:

Remember that both Nanase and Elliot have ended up wanting to spill things to her, despite her not actually wanting them to betray anyone's secrets.

... yes, it definitely worked that way.

8 hours ago, Haylo said:

What if Ashley has collected a whole lot of secrets from living in Moperville and is already used to things she shouldn't ask about, and also used to keeping secrets from one source confidential from other unrelated sources?

Hmmm ... what other secrets could she picked up? This could be interesting ...

32 minutes ago, Sargon said:

I think Nanase may be a bit jealous: When she fell in love with Ellen, all she knew about her was that she was a female version of Elliot... I think she likes Elliot, and would date him if she weren't into chicks... she just isn't sexually attracted to him.

She DID dated him and it's possible she was dating him longer than her average. His sex was really only thing which she didn't liked.

32 minutes ago, Sargon said:

But I think the main reason she feels suspicious is that she feels that Ashley is too good a thing and she came too easily into Elliot's life. In Nanase's experience, getting into a fulfilling relationship like this is hard: She dated like a hundred people (some of them quite awful, it seems) before finding her perfect match...

... yup. Consciously, she likely realises that the reason she had so much trouble dating was that she didn't admitted she's lesbian, but subconsciously, she FEELS this was too easy.

[Scotty 1,061]

6 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

The two she made were IN ADDITION to doll Ellen already had. TWO dolls actually. So the change of hair worked at least once.

The two other dolls (the first one she made and the male one from Grace's birthday) were at home, so Nanase would have had no issue creating a new one near Ellen, but even after changing hairstyles she ended up back at the one she made just outside the classroom because it was the closest one to Ellen. Nanase was able to create several dolls for Susan at Tedd's because they were full transformations, not simple hairstyle changes.

[hkmaly 490]

11 minutes ago, Scotty said:

17 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

The two she made were IN ADDITION to doll Ellen already had. TWO dolls actually. So the change of hair worked at least once.

The two other dolls (the first one she made and the male one from Grace's birthday) were at home, so Nanase would have had no issue creating a new one near Ellen, but even after changing hairstyles she ended up back at the one she made just outside the classroom because it was the closest one to Ellen. Nanase was able to create several dolls for Susan at Tedd's because they were full transformations, not simple hairstyle changes.

It doesn't matter they were at home. The spell is not supposed to create new doll just because the person left the first one somewhere. That's why she was telling people to keep the dolls out.

She even TOLD US that she will end up at Ellen's house if she wouldn't transform. Although it's possible that other, natural changes happening since she created the doll helped as well.

EDIT: Or different idea: Maybe the hair change count as the same change no matter what she does because it's same spell. So she was able to make three dolls: normal one, with male transformation and with hair changed by her spell.

[Scotty 1,061]

17 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

It doesn't matter they were at home. The spell is not supposed to create new doll just because the person left the first one somewhere. That's why she was telling people to keep the dolls out.

She even TOLD US that she will end up at Ellen's house if she wouldn't transform.

The "keep the doll out on the dresser" part might have been so she wouldn't be trapped which is reasonable considering her first doll to Susan ended up trapped in Susan's item chest.

For the second part, she might not have fully understood her spell at that time and assumed that if she tried to use the spell it'd automatically go to the nearest one that already existed. For the purpose of warning Ellen, the context of location had changed, remember after the party when Ellen said Nanase would show up later in fairy form, she'd need to have the female one closer to her for Nanase to get the right doll, so in this case the spell could have been like "there is no doll in the proximity of Ellen, creating new doll".

[hkmaly 490]

3 minutes ago, Scotty said:

For the second part, she might not have fully understood her spell at that time and assumed that if she tried to use the spell it'd automatically go to the nearest one that already existed. For the purpose of warning Ellen, the context of location had changed, remember after the party when Ellen said Nanase would show up later in fairy form, she'd need to have the female one closer to her for Nanase to get the right doll and line of sight mattered, so in this case the spell could have been like "there is no doll in the proximity of Ellen, creating new doll".

Remember that she READS her spellbook. But it's true that you can blame anything on her not understanding the spell. With the way the spell is written, it IS possible ...

It's just that I made theory which ALSO explains why she wasn't able to create fourth doll linked to Ellen which wouldn't require Nanase after Sister II rereading her spellbook and realizing she understood it incorrectly. Which might even be important enough to be shown - or mentioned when she had another problem with the spell.

I just can't imagine where should she get the assumption that if the doll is already created she will inhabit existing doll elsewhere than the spellbook. And, note that it worked every time when she was NOT transformed.

[The Phoenixian 9]

9 hours ago, InfiniteRemnant said:

er... yeah... the only way i can see that happening is if she was so oblivious to his methods that the ones she picked up were subconscious, and she doesn't even know she's doing it. otherwise there would be a shift in her behavior when no one (but the audience) is watching...

Yeah, Like I said, I don't really see it... but it would make me laugh my head off.

5 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Well, if anyone would be an expert on manipulation, it would be Phoenixon.

Good to see you, and welcome back, old friend.

Thanks, it's good to be back.

[Scotty 1,061]

2 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

Remember that she READS her spellbook. But it's true that you can blame anything on her not understanding the spell. With the way the spell is written, it IS possible ...

It's just that I made theory which ALSO explains why she wasn't able to create fourth doll linked to Ellen which wouldn't require Nanase after Sister II rereading her spellbook and realizing she understood it incorrectly. Which might even be important enough to be shown - or mentioned when she had another problem with the spell.

I just can't imagine where should she get the assumption that if the doll is already created she will inhabit existing doll elsewhere than the spellbook. And, note that it worked every time when she was NOT transformed.

We don't really have enough cases where she's tried to create a new doll normally (as in no changes to form) when one already existed. Like I said she already made 2 completely different ones for Ellen, and she ended up making 3 more completely different ones for for Susan (4 if you count the updated Nase doll), when she tried making one to warn Ellen, it was similar to the first she had made except for hairstyle sure, but then the second attempt to make one for Ellen with a different hairstyle didn't work. The only reason I can think of for it allowing her to create the first one for Ellen at school but not a second one (not counting the one made for Grace) is either because Ellen's distance from the dolls at home, or the fact that Nanase was focusin on Ellen in her classroom, rather than Ellen at home.

Although, Nanase did create an updated doll for Ellen after New Years when she got her magic back, presumably the other two dolls still exist. So there could be other factors that affect doll creation. We know that creating a doll for Elliot won't work if he's in Cheerleadra form and that should have been covered by Nanase spellbook for a while now. Heck if it wasn't covered by the spellbook then we can assume the spell didn't expect certain uses so maybe what Nanase was trying to do before wasn't an intended function of the spell, like mixing magic

[PSadlon 88]

Elliot was Nanase's last & most successful relationship as a guy, so successful that they are still friends and that her and Ellen just plain clicked. It'd be understandable that even if she isn't jealous in the standard definition of the word she'd be a bit overprotective of his happiness. Beyond that People as nice as Elliot and Ashley are pretty rare. If you met one in your life it's a blessing, it'd be hard to imagine being twice blessed that way.

[hkmaly 490]

32 minutes ago, Scotty said:

We don't really have enough cases where she's tried to create a new doll normally (as in no changes to form) when one already existed.

True ; on the other hand, we can assume there WERE some cases, just not shown explicitly. She seems to like using fairy doll both to contact people and to just being fairy. I'm sure she is enjoying flying like this regularly, maybe even every week.

I'm sure that in general, characters are using more spells than we are shown and experiments more, because otherwise their level of curiosity would be dangerously low. It's just that when the results of experiments are not important we are not shown. Well ... if there will be some misconception, it WILL be important.

27 minutes ago, Scotty said:

The only reason I can think of for it allowing her to create the first one for Ellen at school but not a second one (not counting the one made for Grace) is either because Ellen's distance from the dolls at home, or the fact that Nanase was focusin on Ellen in her classroom, rather than Ellen at home.

Either the hair change for the first one was bigger, or, as I already said (although it was edit so maybe you missed it), ALL changes of hair she can make with her spell counts as ONE change.

30 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Although, Nanase did create an updated doll for Ellen after New Years when she got her magic back, presumably the other two dolls still exist. So there could be other factors that affect doll creation.

Yup. Although the third one doesn't, so it's still possible that if it existed, she wouldn't be able to make new one because her "updated" look is basically using her hair spell.

29 minutes ago, Scotty said:

We know that creating a doll for Elliot won't work if he's in Cheerleadra form and that should have been covered by Nanase spellbook for a while now. Heck if it wasn't covered by the spellbook then we can assume the spell didn't expect certain uses so maybe what Nanase was trying to do before wasn't an intended function of the spell, like mixing magic

OF COURSE contacting Cheerleadra was mixing magic. That doesn't mean it's not intended function of the spell, just that spell interaction are (or may be) outside of scope of spellbook because the possibilities are infinite.