• Announcements

    • Robin

      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!
Sign in to follow this  
hkmaly

Story, Friday November 17, 2017

Recommended Posts

http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2424

This was VERY rich on answers:

1) Sirleck can't drive. Ellen is driving. (Very funny how surprised he was to avoid a raccoon.)

2) Ellen will sleep after he releases her ... ok, this isn't really new.

3) Even Sirleck prefers leaving Ellen (and others) alive, not because of ethic or something but out of fear.

4) Nanase wasn't send somewhere specific. They only wanted to have her far away. (Totally predicted that.)

5) Ashley remembers what griffins said about Nanase being royalty.

6) Magus things he's better than Guardian form ...

7) Rules for magic are universe-specific, but you can take your rules with you ... somehow.

BTW, to answer Dan's question, cars for on principle of lot of small explosions pushing some gears which move the wheels. No horses are involved.

Also, I'm not sure how big raccoons are (I don't believe Woo is reliable example) but generally you don't want to hit animals because they can damage your car. At least European cars are not build to ram animals, although American SUVs might be different ...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Cars run over raccoons all the time. For those of you who don't live in North America, raccoons mass up to about 20 kilograms and are about 30 cm high on all fours or 60 cm standing. They have adapted easily to city life and will scavenge pretty much any food waste we leave outside. Few garbage cans defeat them. They actually have thumbs and use them to undo simple latches. We have special dog breeds to hunt them, but they continue to thrive. They rarely attack humans, but they can carry rabies, and provide hosts for a wide variety of mites, fleas, and ticks which can carry other diseases.

I had a memorable experience with a dead raccoon in 1970. I was riding in a car with a couple of other friends, and one of them spotted a dead raccoon and somehow convinced the driver to get off the freeway, go back the other way, get on again, and stop to pick up the raccoon. It was perfect timing. Rigor Mortis was ending, and it released the final contents of it's bowels and its bladder before we finished the drive back to San Francisco maybe twenty miles further (the freeway was part of Highway 101 which runs through an unbroken line of suburbs between San Jose and San Francisco, California.)

The guy who convinced the other two of us retired from our Air Force a few years ago as a full colonel.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Raccoons are big enough that they can be hazardous to hit with an ordinary car but small enough that, under normal circumstances, they aren't. (If for any reason the vehicle is not far from being out of control anyway, hitting one can finish it off.)

Most people, though, try to avoid squishing animals on the roadway if they can do so safely. It's far from rare that someone tries a little too hard to miss the animal, and hits something else that is even less desirable to hit.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The real menaces are deer. I hit one nearly thirty years ago; it was night, and it jumped from brush right beside the road just as I was about to pass it. If I'd been driving a car instead of a van which put me further from the ground, it's body would have come up over the nose of the car into my windscreen and maybe through it. People are killed every year by exactly this. And this wasn't out in the country, this was just a few miles north of San Francisco.

But getting back to this comic, why is Sirleck saying Ashley's family is powerful? Is Sirleck mistaken? Has Dan put the wrong words in his mouth (well, Ellen's mouth to get technical)? Or is there something about Ashley's family we don't know about yet? Could it have something to do with that place they told Ashley they didn't know the family came from? Something about the true nature of the family, perhaps?

Or maybe I read it wrong? Please don't correct me any more; I got the message.

Edited by Tom Sewell
Jumped to a really, really stupid conclusion.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

The guy who convinced the other two of us retired from our Air Force a few years ago as a full colonel.

Not counting the colon bit, I'm not sure what "as a full colonel" signifies.

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

But getting back to this comic, why is Sirleck saying Ashley's family is powerful? Is Sirleck mistaken? Has Dan put the wrong words in his mouth (well, Ellen's mouth to get technical)? Or is there something about Ashley's family we don't know about yet? Could it have something to do with that place they told Ashley they didn't know the family came from? Something about the true nature of the family, perhaps?

I'm pretty sure Sirleck is talking about ELLEN's family. Of course, unless he means Elliot, this still leaves the question of how powerful they are. We know her FRIENDS are powerful, starting with Tedd and Nanase, yet he still mentions Dunkels? Does this have something to do with how calmly they took Elliot being girl and later split into two?

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

And this wasn't out in the country, this was just a few miles north of San Francisco.

I would assume the deer though it's enough in country. Remember, deer doesn't use cars for transportation (at least not deliberately) so those few miles looks longer to them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
33 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

I'm pretty sure Sirleck is talking about ELLEN's family.

So am I, now.

33 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

I would assume the deer though it's enough in country. Remember, deer doesn't use cars for transportation (at least not deliberately) so those few miles looks longer to them.

There hasn't been hunting around here in so long the coast deer have largely lost their fear of humans. They come down from the hills at night and graze on lawns and shrubs and sometimes linger into the day. They make life harder for the groundskeepers at Pebble Beach.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
13 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

There hasn't been hunting around here in so long the coast deer have largely lost their fear of humans. They come down from the hills at night and graze on lawns and shrubs and sometimes linger into the day. They make life harder for the groundskeepers at Pebble Beach.

I'm sure they only do it because they are hungry and the lawns are much greener than what they are used to.

6 minutes ago, partner555 said:

Why did Sirleck need the custodian to get close to Ellen? Couldn't he just use the spirit plane to get to her?

Most likely, his range on spirit plane is limited. And/or time he can spend without host. It's big school, searching through it on spirit plane would take long time. Also, might alert Adrian Raven, if he was still there and didn't left early due to his charity.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
5 hours ago, hkmaly said:

1) Sirleck can't drive. Ellen is driving. (Very funny how surprised he was to avoid a raccoon.)

Confirms that's Sirleck taps into hosts memories, including muscle memory, in order to keep suspicion down.

5 hours ago, hkmaly said:

2) Ellen will sleep after he releases her ... ok, this isn't really new.

Figured as much since that's what appeared to be the case with Francine.

5 hours ago, hkmaly said:

3) Even Sirleck prefers leaving Ellen (and others) alive, not because of ethic or something but out of fear.

2 hours ago, hkmaly said:
3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

But getting back to this comic, why is Sirleck saying Ashley's family is powerful? Is Sirleck mistaken? Has Dan put the wrong words in his mouth (well, Ellen's mouth to get technical)? Or is there something about Ashley's family we don't know about yet? Could it have something to do with that place they told Ashley they didn't know the family came from? Something about the true nature of the family, perhaps?

I'm pretty sure Sirleck is talking about ELLEN's family. Of course, unless he means Elliot, this still leaves the question of how powerful they are. We know her FRIENDS are powerful, starting with Tedd and Nanase, yet he still mentions Dunkels? Does this have something to do with how calmly they took Elliot being girl and later split into two?

He could have just meant Elliot when referring to Ellen's family, though we don't know for sure if all Mr Dunkel can do is summon charts...

5 hours ago, hkmaly said:

4) Nanase wasn't send somewhere specific. They only wanted to have her far away. (Totally predicted that.)

Technically she was sent somewhere specific, to Charlotte and Rhea's apartment expecting expecting Ellen to be there as well so they could investigate the "Case of the College Creeper".

I would imagine Nanase's figured out that something's wrong by now since Ellen hasn't shown up, she'll go to the Dunkel's first and find no one home, but she won't have a clue where they'd be.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
53 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

So what part of Sirleck's comments were lies?

Probably the parts "saw on charlotte's forum" and "elliot's gonna drop me off", at least. And, of course, "see you there".

31 minutes ago, Scotty said:
6 hours ago, hkmaly said:

1) Sirleck can't drive. Ellen is driving. (Very funny how surprised he was to avoid a raccoon.)

Confirms that's Sirleck taps into hosts memories, including muscle memory, in order to keep suspicion down.

Yes, that as well.

31 minutes ago, Scotty said:
6 hours ago, hkmaly said:

4) Nanase wasn't send somewhere specific. They only wanted to have her far away. (Totally predicted that.)

Technically she was sent somewhere specific, to Charlotte and Rhea's apartment expecting expecting Ellen to be there as well so they could investigate the "Case of the College Creeper".

Yeah, but just technically. Sirleck didn't had any plan requiring her being on specific place, just not around and preferably far away.

31 minutes ago, Scotty said:

I would imagine Nanase's figured out that something's wrong by now since Ellen hasn't shown up, she'll go to the Dunkel's first and find no one home, but she won't have a clue where they'd be.

She didn't because ITS NOT SIX YET.

I mean, we don't know but as I was already saying in previous comics forum thread, it would make more sense if Sirleck's and Magus's attack happened between the start of vampires attack and the time Nanase arrives at college. If it takes half hour to drive to college, they can be sure she's already away in 5:30 and they can have more than hour headstart when Nanase finally gives up waiting for Ellen and trying to phone her and returns to Dunkel's.

... and yes, even at Dunkel's she wouldn't be able to see which direction they left in. Meaning she'll probably tries to contact Edward if he has some means to track them, but Edward would already be busy because vampires are attacking since 5:00 ...

EDIT: Wait ; we don't know how long Ashley was sleeping. Maybe it IS six already and they are already hour (so, like, 60 miles) from Moperville.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Not counting the colon bit, I'm not sure what "as a full colonel" signifies.

There are two ranks called "colonel" in the US Army, Air Force and USMC.  Lieutenant Colonel (Grade O-5) and Colonel (grade O-6).   When some one wants to make sure that you know they mean an O-6 type colonel the phrase "full colonel" is used. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
19 minutes ago, mlooney said:

There are two ranks called "colonel" in the US Army, Air Force and USMC.  Lieutenant Colonel (Grade O-5) and Colonel (grade O-6).   When some one wants to make sure that you know they mean an O-6 type colonel the phrase "full colonel" is used. 

5 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Not counting the colon bit, I'm not sure what "as a full colonel" signifies.

Oberst. Also known as a "bird" or "chicken" colonel because the insignia of rank is a silver eagle.

 

2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Probably the parts "saw on charlotte's forum" and "elliot's gonna drop me off", at least. And, of course, "see you there".

Besides being lies, all those phrases imply that Sirleck has more than Ellen's muscle memories. 

  • It's reasonable Sirleck could know about Charlotte's forum We've seen him surfing the internet looking for more information on Adrian Raven after Voltaire's pay phone call. But how could he be sure that Ellen would read that forum and that Nanase would take that as a natural explanation?
  • "gonna drop me off" combines two idioms of informal spoken American English in just four words. It's very different from the more formal speech Sirleck has used before.
  • "see you there" is an ideomatic ellipsis for "I shall meet you when you and I are at that destination." Again, colloquial and idiomatic.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, hkmaly said:
4 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

There hasn't been hunting around here in so long the coast deer have largely lost their fear of humans. They come down from the hills at night and graze on lawns and shrubs and sometimes linger into the day. They make life harder for the groundskeepers at Pebble Beach.

I'm sure they only do it because they are hungry and the lawns are much greener than what they are used to.

If they did that where I grew up in Idaho, we would have eaten venison all year round. Just the one legal deer each autumn was enough for many meals.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sirleck's final line, "I know how cars work" may bespeak of experience going back to the very first automobiles and before. He's probably had a very long time to absorb the everyman knowledge of automobiles even if he's never driven one before. Perhaps long enough that he might have possessed the Moperverse photographer who took the picture on this page. I have a hunch hkmaly may recognize the names.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
8 hours ago, hkmaly said:

I'm pretty sure Sirleck is talking about ELLEN's family. Of course, unless he means Elliot, this still leaves the question of how powerful they are. We know her FRIENDS are powerful, starting with Tedd and Nanase, yet he still mentions Dunkels? Does this have something to do with how calmly they took Elliot being girl and later split into two?
 

Although it's possible Dan has some surprising revelations in store, my assumption is he just meant Elliot in the "family" category, with a far greater concern about the "friends" category (and probably a great deal of concern regarding the family of certain friends).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
36 minutes ago, ChronosCat said:

Although it's possible Dan has some surprising revelations in store, my assumption is he just meant Elliot in the "family" category, with a far greater concern about the "friends" category (and probably a great deal of concern regarding the family of certain friends).

Before I go on, welcome to the forum.

That said, I admitted I mixed up Ellen's family with Ashley's. Senior moment. I've corrected my original post. Can we move on from that?

But speaking of Ellen's family, is it so ordinary? Ma and Pa Dunkel seem to have escaped from a 1950s sitcom. Mrs. Dunkel even wears housedresses. It's canon that they really couldn't afford to take care of Ellen without rigging a lottery, and yet Elliot already had his own car. Granted the Toyota Echo is near the low end of the car coolness spectrum and was probably the lowest-price car Toyota sold in the United States during its 1999-2005 lifetime, it would have cost at least the better part of $10,000 to buy a used 1999 Echo in 2002 (when EGS started) and insure a teenage male driver. I don't think never been a word about Mr. Dunkel going to work, coming home for work, or what he does at work, or has ever worked in his life.

But none of that is optional in teenage romantic comedy. However, EGS does take magic more seriously, and now we know that strong magic comes from good ancestry. So how do Generic 1950s Sitcom Dad and Generic 1950s Sitcom Mom produce offspring with ridiculous levels of magical talent?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
10 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

The real menaces are deer. I hit one nearly thirty years ago; it was night, and it jumped from brush right beside the road just as I was about to pass it. If I'd been driving a car instead of a van which put me further from the ground, it's body would have come up over the nose of the car into my windscreen and maybe through it. People are killed every year by exactly this. And this wasn't out in the country, this was just a few miles north of San Francisco.

9 hours ago, hkmaly said:

I would assume the deer thought it's enough in country. Remember, deer doesn't use cars for transportation (at least not deliberately) so those few miles looks longer to them.

On two occasions this summer we saw mule deer - a buck can hit 330 pounds - on the streets of Missoula, a city of over 100,000 people. The first time, the critter was crossing what is probably the second- or third-busiest street in the city. During rush hour. We think he was on his way to the golf course. The second occasion, it was an 8-point buck grazing between a residential street and the fence around a school; he didn't even raise his head as we drove past.

Definitely urban deer.

What's odd is that out in the small towns where we spend most of the summer and usually see deer in town almost every week, often two or three at a time, we only saw one deer in town all summer.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Just now, Tom Sewell said:

But none of that is optional in teenage romantic comedy. However, EGS does take magic more seriously, and now we know that strong magic comes from good ancestry. So how do Generic 1950s Sitcom Dad and Generic 1950s Sitcom Mom produce offspring with ridiculous levels of magical talent?

I think it's mainly the chances of being a Wizards comes from whether both parents are also Wizards (as was the case with Edward and Noriko believing that Tedd should have been one). Mind you, the ability to use magic supposedly comes from having Immortal ancestry, so even if Mr and Mrs Dunkel never awakened or used magic, the trait could still have passed on from one of them to Elliot who then developed it with ASMA training.

It's one of those things that if we assume that known magic users have to have parents that are magic users, we'd have to assume that Sarah's family (there's already been speculation about Carol, but we'd have to include Mr and Mrs Brown too) and Justin's parents, and Rhoda's (she's an S rank talent, that must mean her parents are super powerful too!) and Catalina's (the whole family comes from a line of werecats!)

And then there's going back further generations. which sure, as you go back, there probably was ancestors who were actual wizards or mages, but it would also make sense that recent generations might not have tapped into those talents and it's the current gen that's been getting caught up in things. Like just because Susan's Dad is quite possibly Adrian's son or grandson, that doesn't mean he's a wizard or mage, he's certainly got the potential, but likely doesn't know it.

Though speculation time: Before Jerry2.0 was interrupted by Pandora, he mentioned going to spy on Susan's Dad to find out of he was aware of Diane, does that mean that Mr Pompoms is still in Moperville? I don't think Jerry would have considered that if he didn't know where to find him.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

Although it's possible Dan has some surprising revelations in store, my assumption is he just meant Elliot in the "family" category, with a far greater concern about the "friends" category (and probably a great deal of concern regarding the family of certain friends).

Sounds reasonable to me. 'Friends and family', to me, includes the families of friends.

2 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Before I go on, welcome to the forum.

Welcome back after long absence, Chronos. :) Just to set matters straight, Chronos was a forumgoer before I was.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
15 hours ago, hkmaly said:

http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2424

This was VERY rich on answers:

1) Sirleck can't drive. Ellen is driving. (Very funny how surprised he was to avoid a raccoon.)

I suppose it is the case that for anything requiring his host to interact physically with something, Sirleck must use the host's  physical skills and associated learned reactions, otherwise the movements wouldn't be natural.  I guess this also means that he gets access to Ellen's martial arts as well.

Still, makes me wonder if in certain situations, Ellen might actually fight against Sirleck's control.  If I were Sirleck, I wouldn't bet on winning a fight against Nanase in Ellen's body.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Whether or not Sirleck would take any damage from wounds to the host he is possessing in a fight is a question I don't think anyone has asked yet. It now occurs to me the reason that Sirleck waited until the butler came was that Sirleck had taken so much damage from the dying body of the old man Sirleck could not survive himself without taking a new host immediately.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
16 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

Raccoons are big enough that they can be hazardous to hit with an ordinary car but small enough that, under normal circumstances, they aren't. (If for any reason the vehicle is not far from being out of control anyway, hitting one can finish it off.)

My wife and I, years ago, were driving through our neighborhood, which I would have considered urban and not the suburbs, when I stopped for a raccoon that was crossing the road.  It stopped, looked at us, and I swear it looked like it nodded at us, then walked on, not hurrying at all.  Sitting on it's haunches, it looked as tall as our truck's tires.  Nope, wasn't going to run over Mr. Grampa Badass Raccoon.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this