story Story: Monday July 18, 2016

[The Old Hack 2,448]

30 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Don't freaking scare me like that.  A wall of red text is not often a Good Thing attached to one of your posts, and normally is a Bad Thing.

 

Apologies! I'll try to remember.

[exterminator 37]

Damn, I expected your apologies to be in red text as a joke.

[Schmorgluck 3]

3 hours ago, PSadlon said:

Did I or did I not call this a while back?

Who didn't? I know I did. I didn't think of the "taking care of Adrian" part, but her clinging to the first-hand memories of her lover was easy to suppose.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

11 minutes ago, exterminator said:

Damn, I expected your apologies to be in red text as a joke.

If you see Hack break out the red text, it is not a joke.

However, the red ink on my bank statement can only be a joke.
My finances are an absurdist piece of performance art.

[mlooney 3,417]

28 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

If you see Hack break out the red text, it is not a joke.

However, the red ink on my bank statement can only be a joke.
My finances are an absurdist piece of performance art.

That's one thing I like about all my money going into a government issued debit card.  Going "in the hole" is impossible.  Now it's possible for scheduled payments to not be made, if you don't have enough, but that's not the same.  I've been slow moving my payments to around the 5th of the month, if possible.   Right now, I pay my three main bills (rent/water, electricity, internet) around 00:30 on the 3rd.  On line payment and/or over the phone machine aided payment is a blessing.

 

[RainbowWizard 35]

Just struck me from this thread that in the Shade Tail + Lord Tedd universe, Damian is still alive, andprobably heroic, in all of his Goku-inspired glory.

[Aura Guardian 57]

While the actions were entirely expected, and her reasons mostly expected, it still doesn't hit any softer.

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

3 hours ago, mlooney said:

There is no metaplot reason for Nanase and Akiko to play a major part in this.  

Hmm, that would depend on how many aberrations are showing up in Moperville, and how many of them subscribe to the tactic of trying to kill potential threats while they are still young and vulnerable.  Akiko does have some pretty powerful magic in her heritage, after all.  If there's a big discussion about how Diane is in danger because of her bloodline, just like Susan was attacked because of her magic potential back when she was a Freshman, can't you just imagine Nanase trailing off in the middle of a sentence, as she has her "Aw, crap!" moment?

[PSadlon 88]

2 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Apologies! I'll try to remember.

I understand why you used it but it was a far, far different sorta text than we are used to seeing with that sorta red announcement. 

[Scotty 1,061]

20 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

3 hours ago, mlooney said:

There is no metaplot reason for Nanase and Akiko to play a major part in this.  

Hmm, that would depend on how many aberrations are showing up in Moperville, and how many of them subscribe to the tactic of trying to kill potential threats while they are still young and vulnerable.  Akiko does have some pretty powerful magic in her heritage, after all.  If there's a big discussion about how Diane is in danger because of her bloodline, just like Susan was attacked because of her magic potential back when she was a Freshman, can't you just imagine Nanase trailing off in the middle of a sentence, as she has her "Aw, crap!" moment?

After dealing with Not_Tengu, I'm pretty certain Nanase is aware of the possibility of more threats coming her family's way in attempt to get revenge on Noriko. So even if Akiko winds up not having the family gift, she'd still be in danger.

As for metaplot reasons, sure I doubt Akiko would be part of this arc, but Nanase would still be part of the plot given the fact that she's Ellen's girlfriend and could probably also be the one that introduces Diane to Susan.

 

[Tuscahoma 53]

3 hours ago, comicalArchitect said:

Guys, I just had an idea. What if this arc is called "Sister 3" partially because PANDORA is someone's sister! Voltaire seems an obvious choice, but it could be Jerry, or perhaps Demetrius.

That is a pretty compelling idea.  Though, the whole family relationship thing regarding immortals is a big unknown.  I mean first, we have to find out where immortals come from.  Can immortals mate with other immortals?  Are there truly child immortals (not just reset)?  I agree, Voltaire has certainly taken it upon himself to oppose Pandora, perhaps from a sense of familial responsibility?  Perhaps he believes if Adrian is gone, Pandora will reset.

Demetrius and Helena look like siblings, according to Dame Tara, but I can't see them being related to Pandora.

[Kazzellin 8]

7 hours ago, Scotty said:

...there's been plenty of speculation about [Pandor's] age and it's been confirmed that she's not as old as some of us thought, she's only 156 years older that Adrian, the question now is, how old is Adrian?

I think the answer to that is going to be along the lines of, "I don't know; I stopped counting after I hit 200." Or, "Hang on, I need to think about that/what year is it again?/what year was I born again?/does anyone have a calculator (Nevermind there's one in my phone)." ;D

6 hours ago, ijuin said:

We have no information on how quickly Elves reach adulthood, but given that Adrian's "true form" appears to be in the equivalent of his thirties at most, I think that Elves do not naturally age beyond that.

I believe Dan mentioned at some point (Sister 2/Talon vs. Scythe?) that Adrian's true form is somewhere around 18 or so, though I think he looks more around mid-to-late 20's during Death Sentence.

---

That is quite the expression on Adrian's face in panel two, and makes me wonder just what he's casting that's he's worried about controlling it. Well, panel two also makes me wonder just how powerful Adrian is, but a lot of us have been wondering that for awhile. At least, I have. >_>

[mlooney 3,417]

4 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Hmm, that would depend on how many aberrations are showing up in Moperville, and how many of them subscribe to the tactic of trying to kill potential threats while they are still young and vulnerable.  Akiko does have some pretty powerful magic in her heritage, after all.  If there's a big discussion about how Diane is in danger because of her bloodline, just like Susan was attacked because of her magic potential back when she was a Freshman, can't you just imagine Nanase trailing off in the middle of a sentence, as she has her "Aw, crap!" moment?

I don't think Dan would go quite dark enough to have a sub teen being attacked.  Young teens being tricked into fighting a vampire, yes.  Attacking an 8 year old?  I'm having a problem with that.

4 hours ago, PSadlon said:

I understand why you used it but it was a far, far different sorta text than we are used to seeing with that sorta red announcement. 

This is true.

 

[Scotty 1,061]

2 hours ago, Kazzellin said:

I think the answer to that is going to be along the lines of, "I don't know; I stopped counting after I hit 200." Or, "Hang on, I need to think about that/what year is it again?/what year was I born again?/does anyone have a calculator (Nevermind there's one in my phone)." ;D

Probably, and I just realized that this really doesn't confirm anything about Pandora's age, sure we know she's 156 years older that Adrian, but BECAUSE we don't know Adrian's exact age, we still don't know Pandora's exact age. Dan's not being any help with the vagueness of the time period this lore fragment takes place in, no idea why he'd want to keep the time period secret, unless he's saving the reveal of their ages for a later story, or maybe he wants to tease us. If I were to take a guess though, maybe sometime in the 16th century. Adrian could be pushing 400 years old and Pandora 550-575. The lion bear and monster that killed Blaike was probably an extreme rarity that most people would consider them myths. On the other hand, I think someone speculated that maybe Pandora was originally from the other half of the world, I can certainly believe that considering the griffins exist there, lion bears and dragons could have existed there rather than in the main half, Pandora could have brought Adrian over long ago.

2 hours ago, Kazzellin said:

I believe Dan mentioned at some point (Sister 2/Talon vs. Scythe?) that Adrian's true form is somewhere around 18 or so, though I think he looks more around mid-to-late 20's during Death Sentence.

I couldn't find anything in Talon vs Scythe, Death Sentence, nor Q&A#5 that mentions how old Adrian looks in his true form, mind you there are several Talon vs Scythe comics that are missing commentaries, I dunno if they ever had any though, they might just be ones that Dan still needs to add commentary to at some point. I will agree that mid to late 20s sounds right for Adrian's appearance. I'm thinking he aged normally for the first 17-20 years of his life, or maybe a slightly reduced speed, like the rate at which Grace ages (she looks 16 when she's 18), then it becomes greatly reduced after that.

[InfiniteRemnant 141]

10 minutes ago, Scotty said:

3 hours ago, Kazzellin said:

I think the answer to that is going to be along the lines of, "I don't know; I stopped counting after I hit 200." Or, "Hang on, I need to think about that/what year is it again?/what year was I born again?/does anyone have a calculator (Nevermind there's one in my phone)." ;D

Probably, and I just realized that this really doesn't confirm anything about Pandora's age, sure we know she's 156 years older that Adrian, but BECAUSE we don't know Adrian's exact age, we still don't know Pandora's exact age. Dan's not being any help with the vagueness of the time period this lore fragment takes place in, no idea why he'd want to keep the time period secret, unless he's saving the reveal of their ages for a later story, or maybe he wants to tease us. If I were to take a guess though, maybe sometime in the 16th century. Adrian could be pushing 400 years old and Pandora 550-575. The lion bear and monster that killed Blaike was probably an extreme rarity that most people would consider them myths. On the other hand, I think someone speculated that maybe Pandora was originally from the other half of the world, I can certainly believe that considering the griffins exist there, lion bears and dragons could have existed there rather than in the main half, Pandora could have brought Adrian over long ago.

we know thanks to her comments to Sarah that she's a minimum of 500 (she said she'd been claiming to only be 299 for "centuries", so minimum 200 years), so "older than 156" is kinda redundant information...

[Scotty 1,061]

4 minutes ago, InfiniteRemnant said:

we know thanks to her comments to Sarah that she's a minimum of 500, so "older than 156" is kinda redundant information...

No no, that's just the age difference between her and Adrian that I was referring to, I was mistaken when I said that it helped confirm that she's not as old as we speculated, and corrected myself by saying that her and Adrian could still be ancient, we just don't know for sure though I did put out what I felt was a reasonable guess based on what we've seen, which does include Pandora's comments to Sarah.

[Don Edwards 548]

Given that "Sisters 3" begins with such a heavy emphasis on the origin story of Crazy!Pandora and Raven, it's extremely likely that one or the other of them will have a sister show up.

But not certain.

[Scotty 1,061]

4 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

Given that "Sisters 3" begins with such a heavy emphasis on the origin story of Crazy!Pandora and Raven, it's extremely likely that one or the other of them will have a sister show up.

But not certain.

This is just wild speculation here, but considering that at the end of "So a Date" Sirleck is misinformed that  Adrian is the son of either Helena or Demetrius. Sirleck will probably try to send vampires after Adrian, which should entice Helena and Demetrius to try to find someone to fight the vampires (Adrian could probably handle 1 or 2 himself but if there are more...) they may even get Diane and Susan to fight them, so not only will Diane learn of Adrian's true nature (and be more respectful afterwards) but she'd likely get marked to unlock her innate talents, meanwhile Magus will take the opportunity to get Ellen to zap Elliot, Voltaire probably leaves a clue for Pandora suggesting that Elliot was the reason for the attack on Adrian and considering how Pandora and Magus parted ways (Magus refusing to get Edward to kill the person that hurt Adrian), and knowing why Magus needs Elliot, Pandora would probably be enraged enough to find a way to get Elliot killed to spite Magus. Does that sound like a complicated mess to anyone?

[rhjason 1]

22 minutes ago, Scotty said:

This is just wild speculation here, but considering that at the end of "So a Date" Sirleck is misinformed that  Adrian is the son of either Helena or Demetrius. Sirleck will probably try to send vampires after Adrian, which should entice Helena and Demetrius to try to find someone to fight the vampires (Adrian could probably handle 1 or 2 himself but if there are more...) they may even get Diane and Susan to fight them, so not only will Diane learn of Adrian's true nature (and be more respectful afterwards) but she'd likely get marked to unlock her innate talents, meanwhile Magus will take the opportunity to get Ellen to zap Elliot, Voltaire probably leaves a clue for Pandora suggesting that Elliot was the reason for the attack on Adrian and considering how Pandora and Magus parted ways (Magus refusing to get Edward to kill the person that hurt Adrian), and knowing why Magus needs Elliot, Pandora would probably be enraged enough to find a way to get Elliot killed to spite Magus. Does that sound like a complicated mess to anyone?

Yes! I LOVE it! But it's not complicated enough XD.

I see your complicated mess and raise you Rhoda & Luke

Rhoda has been identified by Grace to have the ability to enlarge living beings (unknown whether she can enlarge anything or just things that are alive for now) so I feel like she would be targeted somehow. After all, the vampires are able to sense people who have abilities, making Rhoda (A girl who has ability but can't fight or control it) a very very appealing meal . And Rhoda being in danger will definitely be a cause for Diane to awaken in a dramatic flair, after all, she did punch a guy for "approaching" Rhoda before.

Luke is able to identify magic marks and will most likely be on a date with Justin at the time. Justin, being the justice warrior he is, will likely get involved once Elliot/Cheerleadra is in battle. We do not know whether Luke will have power other than being able to scan people, but it would make sense that he be involved even if just to give more information to the other two.

I feel like Pandora would not kill Elliot to spite magus, her hating things that are set in stone. I think it's more likely that she notes magus and Sirleck's existence, and sets the Paranormal investigation department aflame (figuratively) by either revealing Sirleck OR advising Sarah about Sirleck resulting in the Protagonists storming the government facility starting a panic over a Coop like situation in Moperville while Sirleck sends government agents to fight the protagonists.

This in turn sparks a government effort that recognizes the protagonists as dangerous, forcing the heroes to contact Luke's two friends and either lay low or move out. Perfect move into the college arc, since they would be unlikely to stay local in college and having them out of Moperville will stop the government from worry about another "Coop".

HOWS THAT FOR A COMPLICATED MESS!! HAHAHAHAHA 

I mean...I'm definitely not evil! You have no proof! I mean, hey is that a demonic duck of some sort? ->  

 

*escapes under the cover of demonic duck*

[Tom Sewell 268]

Since the last panel shows Pandora changing her attire to have a cark mass of fur or feathers around her shoulders, and the silhouette behind Magus' silhouette, it suggests that Magus is still the catspaw of Pandora. But there's something behind Pandora--something with slitted eyes. Guess who has slitted eyes? Sirleck does. True, he has six of them, but the other ones are more to the side than to the front. I thought those sort of pie-shaped segments could be more eyes, but taking a closer look today, I think they're a couple of Sirleck's fangs. Maybe his wisdom fangs, the furthest back, upper pair,

So if that's a hint at the plot, Pandora is trying to manipulate Pandora. Not exactly a wise strategy, that. Bravely running away sounds a lot better to me. But maybe Sirleck's limpet-like nature is making him hang on to whatever plans he has for Magus.

Or maybe the owner of those slit pupils is someone or something else. Damien and Vlad seem to have slit pupils. But Vlladia doesn't. And even if Damien isn't really dead, using catspaws is totally out of character for him. And probably way beyond his intellectual capacity.

BTW, I kind of think Pandora will reset at the end of this arc. Maybe she could be passed off as Noah's little sister.

[rhjason 1]

2 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Since the last panel shows Pandora changing her attire to have a cark mass of fur or feathers around her shoulders, and the silhouette behind Magus' silhouette, it suggests that Magus is still the catspaw of Pandora. But there's something behind Pandora--something with slitted eyes. Guess who has slitted eyes? Sirleck does. True, he has six of them, but the other ones are more to the side than to the front. I thought those sort of pie-shaped segments could be more eyes, but taking a closer look today, I think they're a couple of Sirleck's fangs. Maybe his wisdom fangs, the furthest back, upper pair,

So if that's a hint at the plot, Pandora is trying to manipulate Pandora. Not exactly a wise strategy, that. Bravely running away sounds a lot better to me. But maybe Sirleck's limpet-like nature is making him hang on to whatever plans he has for Magus.

Or maybe the owner of those slit pupils is someone or something else. Damien and Vlad seem to have slit pupils. But Vlladia doesn't. And even if Damien isn't really dead, using catspaws is totally out of character for him. And probably way beyond his intellectual capacity.

BTW, I kind of think Pandora will reset at the end of this arc. Maybe she could be passed off as Noah's little sister.

Speaking of Noah, I wonder what is his lineage that required hiding...I always thought he was Seyunolu, because I thought he was the alternate universe of Archie (considering how much he likes hugging and kissing, but is in an asexual relationship with Melissa; since he clearly says he knows she loves someone else and they provide each other comfort and whatnot...).

But could Noah's lineage also have some kind of relationship with immortals? I don't know, but I am eagerly waiting for the next couple of months to find out more about this Complicated Mess...

[Scotty 1,061]

42 minutes ago, rhjason said:

Speaking of Noah, I wonder what is his lineage that required hiding...I always thought he was Seyunolu, because I thought he was the alternate universe of Archie (considering how much he likes hugging and kissing, but is in an asexual relationship with Melissa; since he clearly says he knows she loves someone else and they provide each other comfort and whatnot...).

But could Noah's lineage also have some kind of relationship with immortals? I don't know, but I am eagerly waiting for the next couple of months to find out more about this Complicated Mess...

Pretty certain he still is Seyunolu considering his connetion to Damien and the fact that he gives off the same aura as Grace. Dan has confirmed that it's possible for Seyunolus to gain access to Earth magic if they were able to suppress their Uryuom Power, while it is difficult, I could see Noah pulling it off as part of his training to avenge his parents deaths.

How Noah ended up in the care of Adrian though is a complete mystery, did Adrian know his parents? Did Edward know Noah's parents and ask Adrian to take care of Noah? How long ago did Damien kill Noah's parents?

As for Noah's relationship with Melissa? Dan's hinted that they're still together, and possibly haven't changed their relationship, though Melissa obviously isn't going to be obsessing over Justin anymore. Melissa also seems to be in the know in terms of the existence of magic and aliens given she knows about Noah's special abilities so I don't see her dropping her relationship with Noah.

[ijuin 572]

Pandora is unlikely to be in favor of Elliot's death, seeing as how he is her grandson's best friend and confidante.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

13 minutes ago, ijuin said:

Pandora is unlikely to be in favor of Elliot's death, seeing as how he is her grandson's best friend and confidante.

Not necessarily.  It wouldn't be the first time an older relative decided that her grand godson's friend was a troublemaker, parasite, bad influence, or some other variety of ne'er do well.

And don't forget, Elliot has introduced Tedd as "This Thing To My Left".  I'm sure Pandora would have found out about that eventually.

Edited July 20, 2016 by Pharaoh RutinTutin
spelling

[mlooney 3,417]

37 minutes ago, ijuin said:

Pandora is unlikely to be in favor of Elliot's death, seeing as how he is her grandson's best friend and confidante.

That is great God son, grandson. Big freaking difference

Based on limited evidence, but it seems that Pandora likes the main eight, but doesn't like their parents.  We know she has been either "nice" or a lifesaver to Tedd, Justin, Sarah,Nanase and Ellen.  With a possible bit of protection to Elliot.  That leaves just Susan and Grace, and we will see about Grace in the next week or so in real time.