story Story: Monday February 13, 2017

[Scotty 1,061]

http://www.egscomics.com/?id=2311

Elliot's like "...but I just started loving my spells!"

Also, looks like Dan was thinking about the "Tedd forgot to do something" NP, though he seems to be on the fence about it being canon or not, it certainly is one of those "it could, or it couldn't" stories.

Also also, Tedd looks more noticeably female in this page than the previous two.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

This is truly brutal. While we knew or suspected most of this, we finally see Tedd let all her frustrations out about it. I am so very thankful Elliot is there with her. He is the one person Tedd trusts enough to vent at without wanting to hold back because of other reasons. (Yes, I believe she also trusts Grace that much, but I also believe that she would want to avoid letting her full fury land on Grace because she knows how much this upsets her. Grace has problems of her own, and to Tedd's great credit, she does not want to aggravate them.)

14 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Also also, Tedd looks more noticeably female in this page than the previous two.

I noticed that, too. I wonder if it is in part because she is letting so much emotion show and moving so energetically that it is stretching her clothes, making her body shape stand out more. It could also be magic, of course, the sheer power of her emotions affecting her mark and her shape. It could be either or even both.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

Imagine the following scenario.

Tedd arrived at a restaurant and found the dining room filled with everyone worth meeting ever and they were all dining on steak, lobster, and decadent deserts.  The maître d' slowly leads Tedd thorough the room pointing out the guests and menu options on the way.

Just before being shown the table, the waiter asks Tedd to pay the $200.⁰⁰ fixed menu price plus the mandatory 25% gratuity.  Then Tedd is led out a fire door and told to sit down on a box by the dumpster.  The waiter gives Tedd a cold can of SpaghettiOs with a jagged lid only partially removed and plastic fork.  Tedd is then told to never come back.

I think that would be less unpleasant that what Tedd is experiencing right now.

[Dabat 60]

33 minutes ago, Scotty said:

http://www.egscomics.com/?id=2311

Elliot's like "...but I just started loving my spells!"

Also, looks like Dan was thinking about the "Tedd forgot to do something" NP, though he seems to be on the fence about it being canon or not, it certainly is one of those "it could, or it couldn't" stories.

Also also, Tedd looks more noticeably female in this page than the previous two.

That's the first thing I saw too. I saw the rant coming (I'd be ranting too), so the seemingly much larger breasts drew my eye. I still want to give her a gigantic hug, I'd be at least as pissed in her shoes.

 

14 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

This is truly brutal. While we knew or suspected most of this, we finally see Tedd let all her frustrations out about it. I am so very thankful Elliot is there with her. He is the one person Tedd trusts enough to vent at without wanting to hold back because of other reasons. (Yes, I believe she also trusts Grace that much, but I also believe that she would want to avoid letting her full fury land on Grace because she knows how much this upsets her. Grace has problems of her own, and to Tedd's great credit, she does not want to aggravate them.)

I noticed that, too. I wonder if it is in part because she is letting so much emotion show and moving so energetically that it is stretching her clothes, making her body shape stand out more. It could also be magic, of course, the sheer power of her emotions affecting her mark and her shape. It could be either or even both.

 

Plus Grace wont be losing her magic. She'll be one of the only people on earth who wont be. It's also been heavily hinted (I thought it was stated, but I can't remember where) that she is much more powerful than most hybrids or Uryuoms, so she will potentially be one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, person on earth if Magic decides to take its ball and go home. I don't think Tedd blames her for this at all, but I would be very jealous in her shoes.

 

As for being more female... I just read the card game storyline a few days ago, I think Tedd is much more, um, "Top-Heavy" in this comic then she was in that story line. I agree that it's likely that she is accidentally using her mark... Or perhaps her mark has reacted with the TF gun somehow to give her even more abilities. Not likely, but possible.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

11 minutes ago, Dabat said:

I don't think Tedd blames her for this at all, but I would be very jealous in her shoes.

Yeah. Sometimes you just can't help that. Jealousy is not an emotion I am proud of, but for a long time I felt it strongly in connection with my older and by far more successful brother. This was also due to certain sibling problems we brought with us into adulthood. And it can poison relationships badly.

It took long years before I was finally able to begin laying the resentment I felt to rest. But when I succeeded, it made a huge difference for me. I truly hope that if Tedd does feel that way, she will find a better way to deal with it than I did.

[WR...S 41]

45 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

I noticed that, too. I wonder if it is in part because she is letting so much emotion show and moving so energetically that it is stretching her clothes, making her body shape stand out more. It could also be magic, of course, the sheer power of her emotions affecting her mark and her shape. It could be either or even both.

It's definitely the latter.  She'd have been noticed if she'd been shaped like this earlier, no matter how clever she'd been with clothes (bar bindings, which shouldn't come off this easily); you can see her breasts already beginning to grow between the last two panels of the last strip.

[Don Edwards 548]

2 hours ago, Scotty said:

http://www.egscomics.com/?id=2311

Elliot's like "...but I just started loving my spells!"

Also, looks like Dan was thinking about the "Tedd forgot to do something" NP, though he seems to be on the fence about it being canon or not, it certainly is one of those "it could, or it couldn't" stories.

Also also, Tedd looks more noticeably female in this page than the previous two.

The one time - which might or might not have been canon - that we've seen Tedd forget to shift back to male, she came to school that way.

There may have been non-school instances. Even at-home instances, where Tedd intended to shift to male before Dad got home but Elliot had to remind him...

So that specific incident doesn't have to be canon for the "again" to apply.

[Dabat 60]

1 hour ago, The Old Hack said:

Yeah. Sometimes you just can't help that. Jealousy is not an emotion I am proud of, but for a long time I felt it strongly in connection with my older and by far more successful brother. This was also due to certain sibling problems we brought with us into adulthood. And it can poison relationships badly.

It took long years before I was finally able to begin laying the resentment I felt to rest. But when I succeeded, it made a huge difference for me. I truly hope that if Tedd does feel that way, she will find a better way to deal with it than I did.

Without trying to take this thread to far off topic, I understand. I've done foolish things out of jealousy too. They are perhaps my biggest regrets. For what it's worth, in all I've seen in all of my lurking, you seem like a pretty good person.

 

Back on topic. Maybe the reason Tedd isn't telling all of this to Grace is because she's worried she'll say something out of jealousy. Once you say things you can't take them back.

[partner555 170]

I can't say anything besides "Poor Tedd".

[The Old Hack 2,448]

1 hour ago, Dabat said:

Without trying to take this thread to far off topic, I understand. I've done foolish things out of jealousy too. They are perhaps my biggest regrets. For what it's worth, in all I've seen in all of my lurking, you seem like a pretty good person.

 

Back on topic. Maybe the reason Tedd isn't telling all of this to Grace is because she's worried she'll say something out of jealousy. Once you say things you can't take them back.

Thank you.

And yes, that last sounds entirely reasonable. I have in fact at times sat down hard on my urge to say things for this exact reason. Calming down and analysing them for later, sober discussion seems like the better idea here. Or alternately, venting at someone you trust who is better able to handle the overflow.

[ijuin 572]

4 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

This is truly brutal. While we knew or suspected most of this, we finally see Tedd let all her frustrations out about it. I am so very thankful Elliot is there with her. He is the one person Tedd trusts enough to vent at without wanting to hold back because of other reasons.

Elliot is also the one person best suited to understand how Tedd is feeling about this, especially the part about feeling distressed about the potential loss of being able to change sexes more or less at will.

[Dabat 60]

2 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

Thank you.

And yes, that last sounds entirely reasonable. I have in fact at times sat down hard on my urge to say things for this exact reason. Calming down and analysing them for later, sober discussion seems like the better idea here. Or alternately, venting at someone you trust who is better able to handle the overflow.

We're veering into speculation territory here, but this does come back to what you and I were talking about yesterday. Grace wont be loosing anything if magic gets pissy and changes the rules (though if I were Tedd, the first question I'd ask once I calmed down is *why* Grace wont lose her magic. If magic is an elemental force, even one with a will behind it, shouldn't its change affect everyone equally?). And Grace will likely try and be helpful and point out that Tedd will still have the TF gun even if she looses the rest of her magic... Which likely would have worked on Tedd six months ago, hell, it likely would have worked on Tedd six days ago. But now that Tedd is marked, and understands the concept of gender fluid, she's realized that she's not just some weirdo with a fetish. She need to figure out if she's actually happier living as female with occasional trips to male rather than vis-versa.

 

We're talking foundation of identity revelations here, she has a right to be upset and confused. And all of this isn't even getting into her lost dream of sharing magic with everyone.

[ijuin 572]

I think that Uryuoms being exempt may be due to the Magic Reset being a Terran-local phenomenon--it only affects Earth species. Given the very presence of Uryuoms on Earth at all, coupled with the size of the universe, there are almost certainly millions of sapient species in existence across the universe. (Fermi paradox argument) Assuming that the whole universe does not metaphysically revolve around Earth or humans, then the more species in the universe, the less likely that the whole universe would change just due to the actions of humans on Earth. Earth is just a trillionth of a trillionth of a single universe, and the affairs of the inhabitants of one pale blue dot should not be expected to make a difference to the rest.

Also, note that the Emissary and Pandora spoke of a change in how magic works "for humans". Humans are a species who can acquire the use of magic, but who can also live perfectly well without it. However, some beings (Immortals, Uryuoms, etc.) have magic so incorporated into their very nature that ripping it out would probably mean instant death for them. Given that Magic seems to be deliberately merciful in preventing injury from being inherent to its use (e.g. all of the growth/shrinking/transformation safeguards), it seems uncharacteristic that Magic would rip the life force out of whole species during a Reset.

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

Interesting point, ijuin.  It does make me wonder, if we'd gotten to the point of space travel, would a reset caused by the actions of humans on Earth affect humans who live on another planet?  Perhaps the more spread out humans become, the smaller a percent any one planet's population would be, and the less likely any one world of humans could do anything to cause a magic reset for the rest -- but the fact that what's happening in NaperMoperville is going to affect the rest of the planet is an argument against that.

[Stature 96]

5 hours ago, Scotty said:

Elliot's like "...but I just started loving my spells!"

"Love" is a strong word.

5 hours ago, Scotty said:

Also, Tedd looks more noticeably female in this page than the previous two.

Arms folded, hunching over, the littlest things make the greatest giveaways.

Since I am not a god, I would not even say in full that Tedd will stay as a girl in the end. Then again, Grace. Also then again, Tedd might be having a critical misconception.

[Dabat 60]

29 minutes ago, ijuin said:

I think that Uryuoms being exempt may be due to the Magic Reset being a Terran-local phenomenon--it only affects Earth species. Given the very presence of Uryuoms on Earth at all, coupled with the size of the universe, there are almost certainly millions of sapient species in existence across the universe. (Fermi paradox argument) Assuming that the whole universe does not metaphysically revolve around Earth or humans, then the more species in the universe, the less likely that the whole universe would change just due to the actions of humans on Earth. Earth is just a trillionth of a trillionth of a single universe, and the affairs of the inhabitants of one pale blue dot should not be expected to make a difference to the rest.

Also, note that the Emissary and Pandora spoke of a change in how magic works "for humans". Humans are a species who can acquire the use of magic, but who can also live perfectly well without it. However, some beings (Immortals, Uryuoms, etc.) have magic so incorporated into their very nature that ripping it out would probably mean instant death for them. Given that Magic seems to be deliberately merciful in preventing injury from being inherent to its use (e.g. all of the growth/shrinking/transformation safeguards), it seems uncharacteristic that Magic would rip the life force out of whole species during a Reset.

I understand that, but that raises other questions, all of the non-earthlings we have seen, the Uryuoms and The Deathless Army of Rage, seem to have magic (the Deathless got to earth somehow, and they don't seem like a technological species) seems to point to magic being some form of a universal force. Tedd has certainly been studying it that way. But this indicates that magic is not a universal force, but rather one that changes from species to species. We only know how magic works for for Humans and Uryuoms, but Uryuoms coming to earth, even living their entire lives on earth, don't learn magic the way humans do it would seem to support the "universal force that is expressed differently by different species" hypothesis. But humans losing access to their magic while Uryuoms (and Uryuom hybrids) not doing so would indicate that magic is instead an abnormal force that concentrates itself deliberately. Perhaps it's even that magic is less a universal force, but one where different species have their magic provided by different entities, and Human-Magic-Entity CAN'T give or take away Deathless Army magic and vis-versa. If either of those is true, that indicates that magic is something that can be communicated with, anything communicated with can be reasoned with... Even bargained with. And THAT information would be game changing.

 

Please note. I am not being pedantic here. I am not trying to say "THIS IS HOW DAN MUST WRITE!!!11!". I just can't always turn my 'science brain' off, and if I were in Tedd's shoes (once I calmed down) these are the questions I would be asking as well as the likely hypotheses I would draw from the information at hand. Besides some speculation on my part, meta-wise we know that the a good portion of this is true, but the characters in the comic don't.

 

 

 

14 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

Interesting point, ijuin.  It does make me wonder, if we'd gotten to the point of space travel, would a reset caused by the actions of humans on Earth affect humans who live on another planet?  Perhaps the more spread out humans become, the smaller a percent any one planet's population would be, and the less likely any one world of humans could do anything to cause a magic reset for the rest -- but the fact that what's happening in NaperMoperville is going to affect the rest of the planet is an argument against that.

 

From what we've seen, it looks like it would affect all humans in one fell swoop, but maybe it could pick and choose, who knows?

[Haylo 57]

I have always thought of Uryuom Power and Earth-type Magic as being different "shapes" or maybe "frequencies" of magic -- so that Uryuoms, for example, might not be a close "fit" for the Earth-type Magic. That would provide a way to make different rules by species.

[Scotty 1,061]

Just now, Haylo said:

I have always thought of Uryuom Power and Earth-type Magic as being different "shapes" or maybe "frequencies" of magic -- so that Uryuoms, for example, might not be a close "fit" for the Earth-type Magic. That would provide a way to make different rules by species.

But the main difference is Uryuoms generate their own power, while humans absorb it from the environment.

 

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

But the main difference is Uryuoms generate their own power, while humans absorb it from the environment.

So the Uryuoms generate magic via a system not unlike Photosynthesis, whilst humans simply consume the ambient magic formed through other processes?

[Scotty 1,061]

17 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

So the Uryuoms generate magic via a system not unlike Photosynthesis, whilst humans simply consume the ambient magic formed through other processes?

I think it's more like Humans are the ones using photosynthesis at least in terms of passive absorption of energy, while Uryuoms are like warm blooded animals that generate their own body heat. Humans being able to actively draw more energy happens to be part of the system and as such is also subject to change. The passive absorption doesn't necessarily need to change though, just the requirements to use it.

[Cpt. Obvious 73]

But what about our griffin friends and the humans in "the first half" of the EGS universe? They apparently draw their powers from the same pool of magic that Elliot, Susan and all the other marked or awakened magic users are using. Does that mean that if Magic switches things up "here", it will cause mayhem on the other side as well?
 

[mlooney 3,417]

6 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Or alternately, venting at someone you trust who is better able to handle the overflow.

Y'all do understand that I use several thread here for more or less that exact reason, right?

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

2 minutes ago, Cpt. Obvious said:

But what about our griffin friends and the humans in "the first half" of the EGS universe? They apparently draw their powers from the same pool of magic that Elliot, Susan and all the other marked or awakened magic users are using. Does that mean that if Magic switches things up "here", it will cause mayhem on the other side as well?
 

That is a very good question.  First step would be to try to find out whether Mr. Verres knows any more about either the Other Half or Magic changing, but it would be difficult to do without telling him why they're asking.  Second best source of info is likely the griffins, when they meet again.  Third might be Nioli, if we ever see her again.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

1 minute ago, mlooney said:

Y'all do understand that I use several thread here for more or less that exact reason, right?

And here I thought you just posted here because you love us

[mlooney 3,417]

10 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

And here I thought you just posted here because you love us

Well that too.