story Story, Friday November 17, 2017

[hkmaly 490]

9 hours ago, mlooney said:

14 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. 

That doesn't really help.

Is that supposed to illustrate how good he was in convincing?

Or is it sign of him no longer being friend with rest of group?

Or should that help us identifying him in case we knew him?

9 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

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?

Good point. It could've also been recommended by Magus, but Magus himself didn't had that much opportunities spying on them recently, so getting this information directly from Ellen's memories sounds more likely.

9 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

• "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.

Maybe not "muscle memory", but still automatic. I'm not convinced about muscle memory being sufficient for driving car - bicycle, sure, but reactions like avoiding squirrel sounds more like he's using bigger parts of Ellen's brain than just "muscle memory" parts instead of him deliberately search for it in her memories. Of course, that is even stronger claim ...

8 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

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

While he may be that old, I don't think he was particularly interested in cars, so if he was it would be huge coincidence.

8 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

I have a hunch hkmaly may recognize the names.

... are there people who don't recognize name "Mercedes"?

6 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

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 don't think Elliot has so ridiculous magical talent. He got his magic by training ASMA and touching the diamond.

5 hours ago, Scotty said:

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.

No. The hereditary talents comes from having Immortal ancestry, but you can use magic even without such talent.

5 hours ago, Scotty said:

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!)

On the other hand yes, Sarah DOES have hereditary affinity, Rhoda likely has hereditary talent too and Catalina being almost like cat might've been caused by something more than just her name, yes ...

(However, we have no signs that Justin have any hereditary talent. Just like Elliot, he may just worked hard at ASMA.)

5 hours ago, Scotty said:

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.

That's definitely issue: having talent doesn't mean you know about it. Multiple generations could not become magic users and still passed the gene.

5 hours ago, Scotty said:

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.

Considering he was mainly trying to get somewhere safer, he might just make up "reasons" and wouldn't be particularly sad if the spying involved spending some time searching for him.

3 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

6 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.

Hmmm ... ok, that is alternative. The families of Ellen's friends are definitely noteworthy.

1 hour ago, Tuscahoma said:

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.

That's quite likely, yes.

1 hour ago, Tuscahoma said:

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.

Winning? Possible. Actually hurting her in the process? Unlikely.

Trying to fight Nanase in Ellen's body would put Ellen into "sparing with friend" mode. Or possibly in "sexual foreplay" mode ... we don't know what became with that tradition of kissing after match with Nanase actually being attracted to Ellen. Neither would include any dangerous moves, if Ellen even knows those. This wouldn't really be "Ellen actively fighting against control", but it would STILL limit Sirleck's options.

Of course, Nanase at the same time would limit herself because she doesn't actually hurt Ellen, so the handicaps would likely be similar.

Hmmm ... would Sirleck be embarrassed by ending fight with kissing against his will or would he enjoy the sensation enough to not really care it's not what he wanted?

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

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.

There is alternative explanation: maybe Sirleck doesn't exactly have lot of time of surviving without host even when the previous host is healthy.

[Tom Sewell 268]

6 minutes ago, Tuscahoma said:

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.

That may be the biggest secret of raccoon survival: They're so darned cute. Messy, destructive, but cute.

You know. Just like your kids.

[hkmaly 490]

10 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

16 minutes ago, Tuscahoma said:

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.

That may be the biggest secret of raccoon survival: They're so darned cute. Messy, destructive, but cute.

Well it DID saved cats.

[Tom Sewell 268]

2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Well it DID saved cats.

Cats were threatened by extinction from decades of Heathcliff and Garfield comics. It was internet videos that saved our lovable feline parasites.

[hkmaly 490]

57 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Well it DID saved cats.

Cats were threatened by extinction from decades of Heathcliff and Garfield comics. It was internet videos that saved our lovable feline parasites.

Your timeline is weird.

Sure, internet videos saved cats from Heathcliff and Garfields comics, but tens or maybe hundreds of thousands year before that, cat's cuteness was the reason most predators gone extinct or endangered while cats were worshipped.

(Well, that and the fact they made agriculture worth it by protecting granaries from rats.)

[ChronosCat 155]

9 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

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?

[snip]

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?

Thanks for the welcome.

My intention was merely to comment on what hkmaly said; sorry if it seemed like I was commenting on your mix-up.

Regarding Elliot and Ellen, was it ever said they have a high level of magical talent/ability? Clearly Elliot has a high level of martial arts skill and the ability to combine that with some simple combat magic (and he also has a flying-brick superhero form), and Ellen has a wide variety of non-attack "beam" spells with a lot of potential if used creatively, but I've never thought of them as unusually talented or powerful in the magic department.

7 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

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

Thanks for the welcome to you too. (I have to say, though it's very strange getting multiple welcomes now. Even ignoring my brief visit back in June, I've been back since the end of September!)

[hkmaly 490]

24 minutes ago, ChronosCat said:

Regarding Elliot and Ellen, was it ever said they have a high level of magical talent/ability? Clearly Elliot has a high level of martial arts skill and the ability to combine that with some simple combat magic (and he also has a flying-brick superhero form), and Ellen has a wide variety of non-attack "beam" spells with a lot of potential if used creatively, but I've never thought of them as unusually talented or powerful in the magic department.

No, and they only awakened due to dewitchery diamond which apparently gave them considerable boost (bigger in case of Ellen).

 

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

Chicagoland deer (and other wildlife) have their own equivalent to the interstate network humans use to get around.  New York has Central Park, a rectangular patch of 843 acres of parkland.  Chicagoland has the Forest Preserve Districts, with about 68,000 acres in Cook County and perhaps another 100,000 acres in the collar counties.  Most notably in my area, there are long strips of forest preserve that follow rivers and old canals, on which you ride a bike or a horse from the Wisconsin border all the way down to the City of Chicago's bike route network.  If you had the time and energy you could ride all the way downtown, surrounded by trees almost the whole way!  Of course, the waterfront in the city is by law reserved for parkland, too, so wild critters can make their way along the lakeshore -- probably not deer, but coyotes and foxes occasionally, and raccoons, skunks, etc. all the time!

Naperville straddles the border between DuPage and Will counties, so I'm not as familiar with the FP down there, but the place with the bell tower sounded like a likely candidate to be forest preserve territory.

[Tom Sewell 268]

15 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

Regarding Elliot and Ellen, was it ever said they have a high level of magical talent/ability? Clearly Elliot has a high level of martial arts skill and the ability to combine that with some simple combat magic (and he also has a flying-brick superhero form), and Ellen has a wide variety of non-attack "beam" spells with a lot of potential if used creatively, but I've never thought of them as unusually talented or powerful in the magic department.

Dan had fun with his "Ellen Demonstrates" NP series, teasing us by telling us that all of the beams themselves were canon even if the actions shown weren't. So we have a complete list, more or less, of the spells Ellen can do now. Right?

Well, maybe not. That NP series isn't attached to any particular time, and there's a giant clue at the beginning of it that Ellen is just about as bad at keeping up with her spellbook as her brother. So even if Sirleck does know about all the spells that Ellen knows she has now, Ellen could still have newer spells she doesn't know about. Dan can pull any new beam out of his hat for Ellen he wants to and justify it using the precedent he's already set up.

[Scotty 1,061]

14 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

Dan had fun with his "Ellen Demonstrates" NP series, teasing us by telling us that all of the beams themselves were canon even if the actions shown weren't. So we have a complete list, more or less, of the spells Ellen can do now. Right?

Well, maybe not. That NP series isn't attached to any particular time, and there's a giant clue at the beginning of it that Ellen is just about as bad at keeping up with her spellbook as her brother. So even if Sirleck does know about all the spells that Ellen knows she has now, Ellen could still have newer spells she doesn't know about. Dan can pull any new beam out of his hat for Ellen he wants to and justify it using the precedent he's already set up.

I don't think Dan would show us spells that Ellen would have gained after Sister 3, so I would assume that everything we saw in the demo NP is what she has at time Sister 3 is taking place. Of course that still doesn't prevent Dan from revealing a new spell and saying that she just got it, or got it at some point since the last time her and Nanase looked at her spellbook, Ellen did dodge the question of "when was the last time you checked your spellbook?" pretty quick, so it could have been several days to a couple weeks maybe.

[Tom Sewell 268]

How many of you buy that Sirleck really is as scared as he says he is of the power of the Dunkel family and their friends? I believe the only being Sirleck has really shown fear of before is Pandora. Sirleck had no interest in co-operating with Magus after he learned Pandora was no longer connected with Magus. But he suddenly showed great interest in getting Magus his new body.

Here's another premise about Sirleck's "fear": He's playing up to Magus until the opportunity comes to get the new body he wants, whomsoever its rightful owner(s) might be. Not that Sirleck cares a whit about the welfare of any of anyone else except where it might present danger or inconvenience to himself. That "much more powerful" remark makes me think that Magus is recovering the old overconfidence that had to have helped land him in the predicament he is in now. Sirleck should be quite happy to let that overconfidence continue to grow and flourish.

And now for yet another unanswered question: Can Ashley drive? It occurs to me the end of this drive could end up with no one else able to take the wheel. Or maybe they stop for gas and leave Ashley alone in the car.

[Scotty 1,061]

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

How many of you buy that Sirleck really is as scared as he says he is of the power of the Dunkel family and their friends? I believe the only being Sirleck has really shown fear of before is Pandora. Sirleck had no interest in co-operating with Magus after he learned Pandora was no longer connected with Magus. But he suddenly showed great interest in getting Magus his new body.

Here's another premise about Sirleck's "fear": He's playing up to Magus until the opportunity comes to get the new body he wants, whomsoever its rightful owner(s) might be. Not that Sirleck cares a whit about the welfare of any of anyone else except where it might present danger or inconvenience to himself. That "much more powerful" remark makes me think that Magus is recovering the old overconfidence that had to have helped land him in the predicament he is in now. Sirleck should be quite happy to let that overconfidence continue to grow and flourish.

And now for yet another unanswered question: Can Ashley drive? It occurs to me the end of this drive could end up with no one else able to take the wheel. Or maybe they stop for gas and leave Ashley alone in the car.

Sirleck's scared of Pandora yes, and while any one of the main 8 and friends/family might not be a threat alone, any combination of them or all of them could be a danger to Sirleck, Edward's probably got a number of tricks up his sleeves for dealing with aberrations or knows an agent who does, and who knows, maybe Susan has, or can gain, a spell that can force a bodysnatcher off their host and make them vulnerable to conventional attacks.

As for Ashley, she might have her drivers license, but would mostly be relying on her parents car if she really had to drive somewhere. Of the main 8, all have drivers licenses except maybe Grace (though she may have a learners permit by now) but only Elliot (and by proxy Ellen), Justin and Susan regularly drive.

Though depending on how things go, we may have some others characters arrive on the scene (Nanase maybe, or Tedd, Edward, etc) and if Elliot and Ellen are incapacitated, then they would instead drive.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

Can Ashley Drive?

Aside from the fact that she is in High School, we know nothing for certain about Ashley's age or educational background.
We don't know if she has taken Driver's Ed or has a license.

Of course in Florida, lacking either of those things does not keep anyone from driving.

Or were you asking about her skills as a Golfer?

[Tom Sewell 268]

4 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Sirleck's scared of Pandora yes, and while any one of the main 8 and friends/family might not be a threat alone, any combination of them or all of them could be a danger to Sirleck

Could be, but there is only one being in canon we absolutely know can see Sirleck when he doesn't want to be seen.  Yes, I've speculated that Elliot's new "ocular" ability and Tedd's identification as a Seer could nullify Sirleck's stealth mode, and Sirleck's fear of Pandora sort of proves that Sirleck at least is afraid she might be able to get to him--but has Pandora every mentioned Sirleck even once?

 

12 minutes ago, Scotty said:

As for Ashley, she might have her drivers license, but would mostly be relying on her parents car if she really had to drive somewhere.

It's been 48 years since I was in High School so I may have a wrong impression, but I think driving is a bigger priority for teenage boys than for girls. Elliot owning a car is kind of a mystery; how can he or his parents afford it? Susan has a car because, well, she's rich, even though she doesn't act rich, and it looks like an old Ford Aerostar minivan, something a friend of mine informed me after he rented one thirty years ago was "designed to hurt you." I'm assuming that Sarah, Nanase, and Diane all have been driving their parents' cars.

It is a peculiar fact of my life that when I began high school, I already had a driver's license. I'd been living in Idaho for years where in 1965 you could still get a license at 14. But when I moved in with my mother and her second husband in California, there was no way he was going to let me borrow his car or pay to put me on his insurance, and no way I could afford either one on my own. So I was carless in California, even though I did take Driver's Ed with the idea of getting a California license eventually. So all of you're thinking, no dates in high school for me? Well, you'd be right, for the wrong reason.

I got to go to an all-boy Catholic high school.

 

 

[Tom Sewell 268]

54 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Aside from the fact that she is in High School, we know nothing for certain about Ashley's age or educational background.
We don't know if she has taken Driver's Ed or has a license.

Not quite nothing. Ashley is a senior. This doesn't mean she's even 16 yet; my old college friend with the raccoon obsession entered college at 16, but since Ashley couldn't even stay awake for high school Spanish, I think she's 17 or 18 like the average high school senior.

1 hour ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Of course in Florida, lacking either of those things does not keep anyone from driving.

No, it's all those darned toll booths. I have done some driving in Florida.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

Just now, Tom Sewell said:

No, it's all those darned toll booths. I have done some driving in Florida.

You can thank the Pharaoh for those. He needed to find something to do for some of his relatives and thought of the combination tomb-and-toll booth. All they have to do to go to work now is to open the sarcophagus and stagger to the window of the booth and collect taxes just like in the old days.

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

 It's been 48 years since I was in High School so I may have a wrong impression, but I think driving is a bigger priority for teenage boys than for girls.

In the suburbs, a car is a lot more important that pretty much anywhere else.

In a small town, everything is close enough to walk or bike, or too far away to expect to get there regularly.  In the university town I grew up in downstate, they had a truly excellent system of bus routes and separate bike paths, so that you could get anywhere you needed to go without having a car, except in the wee hours when the busses either weren't running or were on very sparse schedules.  In the city, there's subways/trains/El, plus busses, plus Chicago has been working hard to create protected bike paths.

In the suburbs, eveything is spread out enough that walking isn't practical, and the roads are either too busy to feel safe bicycling on them or so twisty and indirect as to quadruple the distance you have to go.  Many main direct street routes don't even have sidewalks.  There may be one or two busses that go through town on their way through a multi-suburb route, but to get around within your own suburb they're pretty useless.

Quote

there was no way he was going to let me borrow his car or pay to put me on his insurance, and no way I could afford either one on my own.

When my aunt found out how much her insurance rates would increase with two teenage male drivers in the household (whether they were actually allowed to drive the car or not!), she informed her sons that they would not even be allowed to get licenses until they could pay for the insurance increase themselves.  From what I recall from Drivers' Ed about insurance rates, I can't say I blame her!

[hkmaly 490]

4 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Well, maybe not. That NP series isn't attached to any particular time, and there's a giant clue at the beginning of it that Ellen is just about as bad at keeping up with her spellbook as her brother. So even if Sirleck does know about all the spells that Ellen knows she has now, Ellen could still have newer spells she doesn't know about. Dan can pull any new beam out of his hat for Ellen he wants to and justify it using the precedent he's already set up.

It specifically says she's better! A bit.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

How many of you buy that Sirleck really is as scared as he says he is of the power of the Dunkel family and their friends? I believe the only being Sirleck has really shown fear of before is Pandora. Sirleck had no interest in co-operating with Magus after he learned Pandora was no longer connected with Magus. But he suddenly showed great interest in getting Magus his new body.

2 hours ago, Scotty said:

Sirleck's scared of Pandora yes, and while any one of the main 8 and friends/family might not be a threat alone, any combination of them or all of them could be a danger to Sirleck, Edward's probably got a number of tricks up his sleeves for dealing with aberrations or knows an agent who does, and who knows, maybe Susan has, or can gain, a spell that can force a bodysnatcher off their host and make them vulnerable to conventional attacks.

Sirleck is SCARED of Pandora, but he's also generally careful. He's likely not scared of main 8 the way he's scared of Pandora but I think he sincerely doesn't want to fight them, especially if there is easy way to avoid it.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Here's another premise about Sirleck's "fear": He's playing up to Magus until the opportunity comes to get the new body he wants, whomsoever its rightful owner(s) might be. Not that Sirleck cares a whit about the welfare of any of anyone else except where it might present danger or inconvenience to himself. That "much more powerful" remark makes me think that Magus is recovering the old overconfidence that had to have helped land him in the predicament he is in now. Sirleck should be quite happy to let that overconfidence continue to grow and flourish.

It's quite likely Sirleck is weaker than Magus in fair fight and knows it ... BUT he doesn't plan fair fight. He plans to use element of surprise.

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

It's been 48 years since I was in High School so I may have a wrong impression, but I think driving is a bigger priority for teenage boys than for girls.

You mean the teenage boys have other reason for driving that getting girls? No wonder it has bigger priority if one is (seen as) prerequisite of other.

Oh. Wait. FOR girls. Sorry. Misunderstood it.

4 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

In the suburbs, eveything is spread out enough that walking isn't practical, and the roads are either too busy to feel safe bicycling on them or so twisty and indirect as to quadruple the distance you have to go.  Many main direct street routes don't even have sidewalks.  There may be one or two busses that go through town on their way through a multi-suburb route, but to get around within your own suburb they're pretty useless.

The fact Grace raised the issue of not having car when Adrian invited her to his home suggest that suburb or not, people in Moperville have hard time getting around without car.

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

And now for yet another unanswered question: Can Ashley drive? It occurs to me the end of this drive could end up with no one else able to take the wheel. Or maybe they stop for gas and leave Ashley alone in the car.

2 hours ago, Scotty said:

Though depending on how things go, we may have some others characters arrive on the scene (Nanase maybe, or Tedd, Edward, etc) and if Elliot and Ellen are incapacitated, then they would instead drive.

First though: Ashley may not need to drive, she can just call someone else in the unlikely case noone arrives before she wakes up in car with Elliot and Ellen long after Magus and Sirleck left.

But wait: Elliot's phone is special DGB version. Magus should know that and leave the phones in Dunkel's house so Edward can't track them ... Magus doesn't even know how cars works. Magus is probably not aware that phones can be tracked and Sirleck might not be up-to-date with technology enough to raise the issue either, especially if Sirleck doesn't know about Edward being in DGB ...

Ok. It will be interesting to see if they still have phones.

Actually, it may not really be an issue even if noone arrives and they don't have phones: if everything will go according to Magus's plan, I would expect Ashley and Elliot would be put to sleep close after each other by same spell so Ashley wouldn't need to wait too long for Elliot to wake up. Ellen might sleep longer before she recovers from Sirleck.

 

[Tom Sewell 268]

9 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

Quote

there was no way he was going to let me borrow his car or pay to put me on his insurance, and no way I could afford either one on my own.

When my aunt found out how much her insurance rates would increase with two teenage male drivers in the household (whether they were actually allowed to drive the car or not!), she informed her sons that they would not even be allowed to get licenses until they could pay for the insurance increase themselves.  From what I recall from Drivers' Ed about insurance rates, I can't say I blame her!

And when I was in high school, it was before California passed a law making it illegal to drive without liability insurance. I think it was called something like the "Financial Responsibility Act" but it should have been "An Act to Ensure the Continued Prosperity of Insurance Companies and Tort Lawyers."

5 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

It's quite likely Sirleck is weaker than Magus in fair fight and knows it ... BUT he doesn't plan fair fight. He plans to use element of surprise.

All the more reason to encourage overconfidence, which so often leads to carelessness.

7 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

You mean the teenage boys have other reason for driving that getting girls? No wonder it has bigger priority if one is (seen as) prerequisite of other.

Yes, status. Girls are generally impressed by how nice a boy's car is (perhaps also by how expensive it is) while boys care about how jealous it will make other boys. We still had at least one boy at my Catholic all-male high school who drove a truly badass street machine.

That said, even the most pathetic excuse for a car, even borrowing your mom's car (provided your mom doesn't come with it) raises your chances of getting a date significantly above zero.

 

[Tom Sewell 268]

I'm guessing everyone else is assuming that that they are driving to the same place the Dewitchery Diamond was kept before, and that the laughable level of security still hasn't changed. Well, maybe; EGS is mostly a comedy. But what if one or both assumptions are wrong?

One thing we do know about the old facility is that it had at least one guard armed with at least one flashlight, which he used to conk out Elliot (or maybe she--all we see is the flashlight). Another thing is that it had at least one holding cell. And it's reasonable to assume that even if Ashley, Elliot, and Ellen are left asleep in the car, they'll wake up in either that holding cell, or another cell, or in some other place in some kind of custody or with someone with the authority to take them into custody if they don't give satisfactory answers.

[hkmaly 490]

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

And when I was in high school, it was before California passed a law making it illegal to drive without liability insurance. I think it was called something like the "Financial Responsibility Act" but it should have been "An Act to Ensure the Continued Prosperity of Insurance Companies and Tort Lawyers."

Considering statistics regarding how often teenagers crash, I think letting one on street without insurance would be irresponsible anyway - and the lawyers would prosper without insurances as well. If some group is likely to not need the insurance, it's pensioners.

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

It's quite likely Sirleck is weaker than Magus in fair fight and knows it ... BUT he doesn't plan fair fight. He plans to use element of surprise.

All the more reason to encourage overconfidence, which so often leads to carelessness.

Possibly. I still think Sirleck is not faking to prefer leaving Ellen alive.

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

I'm guessing everyone else is assuming that that they are driving to the same place the Dewitchery Diamond was kept before, and that the laughable level of security still hasn't changed. Well, maybe; EGS is mostly a comedy. But what if one or both assumptions are wrong?

They are certainly driving to the place Dewitchery Diamond is kept now ; I don't think Magus would underestimate THIS part of plan.

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

One thing we do know about the old facility is that it had at least one guard armed with at least one flashlight, which he used to conk out Elliot (or maybe she--all we see is the flashlight). Another thing is that it had at least one holding cell. And it's reasonable to assume that even if Ashley, Elliot, and Ellen are left asleep in the car, they'll wake up in either that holding cell, or another cell, or in some other place in some kind of custody or with someone with the authority to take them into custody if they don't give satisfactory answers.

Not if the guard would be sleeping as well, if he will be killed or taken over by Sirleck.

Also, the car doesn't need to be parked right in front of the facility. Sure, if it's the same facility, there may be no place around to put the car to where it wouldn't be discovered, but the same doesn't need to be true for some other place.

But, yes, it is also possible that Magus and Sirleck will leave Ellen, Elliot and Ashley to be found, especially if the security would be better so it wouldn't be so easy to get to the diamond without raising alarm. In that case, Edward would likely get them out ; sure, he's not in control anymore, but I don't think Dan actually wants to explore the possible complications of Arthur Arthur trying to jail anyone of main eight.

It is also possible that there wouldn't be enough guards to search for Ashley left ; Sirleck may take over one, Magus can put multiple to sleep, some will need to follow Abraham in his pursuit because no way he is waiting for reinforcements ...

Another possibility is that Sirleck will use the opportunity of Magus touching the diamond and take him over immediately after splitting ; in that case, he's unlikely to care about others, will likely put Elliot into sleep immediately and leave them there. Hmmm ... actually this seems quite likely. In that case, Ashley might wake up in car alone ...

Note: It's not in Sirleck interest for anyone to notice the Dewitchery diamond was used ; it's better if there is no missing body. And while Magus is explaining everything to Ashley, he MIGHT prefer if she's only one aware of that plan, to delay the chase.

[Tom Sewell 268]

Anyone care to bet whether or not this ride reaches its destination before December arrives in our universe?

[hkmaly 490]

11 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

Anyone care to bet whether or not this ride reaches its destination before December arrives in our universe?

Reach? Maybe. It is possible that we will follow them during ride until they get to destination and then we switch to Susan and Diane. Very unlikely to see them actually take the diamond - either it will be done off-panel, or it will take too long for them to finish before December arrives, AND that's not counting the switch to Susan, Diane and vampires OR to Nanase.

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

I'm guessing everyone else is assuming that that they are driving to the same place the Dewitchery Diamond was kept before, and that the laughable level of security still hasn't changed. Well, maybe; EGS is mostly a comedy. But what if one or both assumptions are wrong?

PS: There is also possibility they are driving to some place where they stored the pre-stolen diamond. However, I consider it unlikely now ; if they already stolen it, it would be closer - if they need to drive somewhere, they likely plan to use Magus's magic to get to the diamond.

[Tom Sewell 268]

1 minute ago, hkmaly said:

AND that's not counting the switch to Susan, Diane and vampires OR to Nanase.

Also not counting the switch to Sarah and Sam on their not-date. I wonder if it's a not-date at the mall; I don't know if Sarah knows that Susan is meeting Diane at the mall.

[Scotty 1,061]

3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

and it looks like an old Ford Aerostar minivan, something a friend of mine informed me after he rented one thirty years ago was "designed to hurt you."

We had a '93 Aerostar Sport that was pretty much a tank, one day I had to drive my dad in to work cus I needed the van to get to work as well, and it started freezing rain on the way home, by the time I was getting back into town I was driving 20kph and still ended up sliding past my driveway, there was an S10 behind me that didn't realize I was trying to turn and slammed into me. One the shock wore off, I got out to assess the damage. The front grill of the S10 was shattered, but there wasn't so much of a scratch on the back of the van.

Mind you the reason we had to get rid of the van was because the engine caught fire while driving to work another time, but that was mainly due to poor maintenance.