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Scotty

Story, Friday July 14, 2017

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http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2373

So...I guess this means Mama Kitsune opted to not follow the family tradition. Not sure if this means she hasn't awakened or just that she hasn't bothered build up her spellbook after awakening.

Sure, she's got the potential, but I can see the possibility of her just not being interested in it and letting her sister take the reigns, much to her regret later, I bet.

Also, I guess Grace did tell Tedd that Adrian taught his parents, but possibly that was all she said? Although Adrian wasn't specific to what career he encouraged Noriko to follow so Grace could have mentioned that Adrian blamed himself for Noriko putting her career ahead of family and running of to start a travel agency in Europe.

Still, Tedd knew that he was subjected to the magic analysis wand often as a baby, he must have thought that his mom was involved with that.

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This is so rich on information ...

Edward Verres confirmed to be wizard.

Noriko Verres confirmed to be wizard.

Grace probably didn't tell Tedd everything but at least something about Raven.

12 minutes ago, Scotty said:

So...I guess this means Mama Kitsune opted to not follow the family tradition. Not sure if this means she hasn't awakened or just that she hasn't bothered build up her spellbook after awakening.

Really interesting, considering she generally seem to be into tradition a lot.

She certainly WAS being taught magic. I would suppose that Raven is too good teacher to not get her awakened. It's possible that she stopped using magic BECAUSE of what happened with Noriko, and even if she later changed mind she wouldn't get as powerful ...

Responsibilities of godfather: so, will we find out if Drew was Raven's idea?

And regarding travel agent: does Pandora knows what that usually consist of? Although travel agent might easily be her official reason for visiting many countries during her hunts for monsters ...

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2 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

She certainly WAS being taught magic. I would suppose that Raven is too good teacher to not get her awakened. It's possible that she stopped using magic BECAUSE of what happened with Noriko, and even if she later changed mind she wouldn't get as powerful ...

We know Adrian was Mama Kitsune's least favorite teacher, it's easily assumed that it's because of what happened to her sister and she blames him for it as well. It's also possible she never really cared for his teachings. Maybe she was more rebellious as a teenager and only realized the importance of tradition after highschool. Maybe she didn't intend on running Nanase through the ringer and trying to make sure she was prepared for dealing with Magic. Then Noriko left and Mama Kitsune felt that Nanase getting involved with magic was inevitable and so did her best to prepare her so that she wouldn't make the same mistakes Noriko did.

8 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

Responsibilities of godfather: so, will we find out if Drew was Raven's idea?

Maybe, I dunno it it's a tradition to do so as my godparents didn't have a part in my naming.

14 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

And regarding travel agent: does Pandora knows what that usually consist of? Although travel agent might easily be her official reason for visiting many countries during her hunts for monsters ...

Maybe being a travel agent was an actual job she did on the side, you know travel agent by day, monster hunter by night. She might even have a blog.

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14 minutes ago, Scotty said:
30 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

She certainly WAS being taught magic. I would suppose that Raven is too good teacher to not get her awakened. It's possible that she stopped using magic BECAUSE of what happened with Noriko, and even if she later changed mind she wouldn't get as powerful ...

We know Adrian was Mama Kitsune's least favorite teacher, it's easily assumed that it's because of what happened to her sister and she blames him for it as well. It's also possible she never really cared for his teachings.

I would assume that he would FIRST be her teacher, THEN her sister did something she might blame him for. Of course her opinion on him might changed, but it's also possible he was her least favorite because she didn't liked magic, didn't put much effort into it and Raven had hard time teaching her. But, he didn't just gave up - then he wouldn't be her least favorite teacher. Therefore, I would consider likely she is awakened.

Also note that Pandora might not have good knowledge on Mrs. Kitsune abilities, especially if Mrs. Kitsune got better after she stopped talking with Adrian.

14 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Maybe she was more rebellious as a teenager and only realized the importance of tradition after highschool. Maybe she didn't intend on running Nanase through the ringer and trying to make sure she was prepared for dealing with Magic. Then Noriko left and Mama Kitsune felt that Nanase getting involved with magic was inevitable and so did her best to prepare her so that she wouldn't make the same mistakes Noriko did.

I sort of suspect she does her best to both prepare Noriko for magic AND not abandoning the family as well.

14 minutes ago, Scotty said:
30 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

And regarding travel agent: does Pandora knows what that usually consist of? Although travel agent might easily be her official reason for visiting many countries during her hunts for monsters ...

Maybe being a travel agent was an actual job she did on the side, you know travel agent by day, monster hunter by night. She might even have a blog.

You think there are no money in monster hunting? Well ... Geralt isn't particularly rich, was complaining repeatedly that it's not so well paid job, and he had the advantage of being in open, so that actually makes sense.

(From her blog: The castle of Foobar is particularly nice during night, and you can see great landscape from the battlements ; Comment: The castle of Foobar is never open at night and you can't get to the battlements without flying, there is no ladder and it's not allowed anyway ; Reply: Ups.)

13 minutes ago, Zorua said:

That and little more just to be sure. Although she left out the word "legendary", does it help?

Good that Nanase isn't going to same school as Tedd. It would be awkward if he told her on lunch that he just found his mother comes from long line of monster hunters. Especially if she would just be drinking something.

 

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Travel agent?

She organizes charter busses as package tours filled with English speaking tourists, who individually just happen to be experts in various types of magic and/or combat.  And she takes these bus loads into various villages and neighborhoods that have been experiencing Moperville level "Code Spooky" events.

Imagine, the "Spooky Tour" is delayed from returning to Paris in time for Bastille Day because the middle aged accountant and lycanthrope detector from Pittsburgh just knew he could run with the bulls in Pamplona.  Thus when the Vampire showed up, Les Immortels felt justified in recruiting two kids on a French Club trip.

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1 minute ago, Zorua said:

And either Nanase can breath a sigh of relief for not being the one that spilled the beans, or Ellen gets confirmation that kicking an old bomb is definitely not a good idea.

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14 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

Also note that Pandora might not have good knowledge on Mrs. Kitsune abilities, especially if Mrs. Kitsune got better after she stopped talking with Adrian.

Pandora must have seen Mama Kitsune's potential, but the "if she tried" part sounds like Mama Kitsune didn't try to reach her magic potential, Raven might have tried but if she refused to take direction in that subject then she likely didn't awaken. I still get the impression that Mama Kitsune is the older sister, so if Adrian failed to get her interested in magic, but was able to get Noriko interested, then it would make sense for him to have put more effort into maintaining that interest, which could have been the basis for him believing he was a terrible influence in Noriko putting her career ahead of her family.

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17 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

castle of Foobar

You do realize that "Foobar" is really "FUBAR" which is a WWII shorthand for "F___ed Up Beyond All Recognition." It was also the title of an episode of Ken Burns The War.

14 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Travel agent?

For destinations that are literally out of this world?

All this talk about Noriko and her family has stirred up my curiosity about Mr. Kitsune. There's no evidence that he even speaks English. It is extremely rare to find Americans of Japanese descent who can speak Japanese, so Mr. Kitsune would most likely be from Japan if Dan has really thought out his backstory at all. That may imply an arranged marriage, still not uncommon in Japan. Perhaps Noriko deserted Tedd even before her sister finished high school. That seems like a stronger source for the bad press she gave Nanase about him than just being a demanding teacher.

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11 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

You do realize that "Foobar" is really "FUBAR" which is a WWII shorthand for "F___ed Up Beyond All Recognition." It was also the title of an episode of Ken Burns The War.

Actually, the WWII era acronym was Situation Normal All Fowled Up (SNAFU)

FUBAR was significantly later...

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31 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

She organizes charter busses as package tours filled with English speaking tourists, who individually just happen to be experts in various types of magic and/or combat.  And she takes these bus loads into various villages and neighborhoods that have been experiencing Moperville level "Code Spooky" events.

Whole bus filled with mages lead by Noriko Verres? You could overthrow whole governments with so much power ...

16 minutes ago, Scotty said:
40 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

Also note that Pandora might not have good knowledge on Mrs. Kitsune abilities, especially if Mrs. Kitsune got better after she stopped talking with Adrian.

Pandora must have seen Mama Kitsune's potential, but the "if she tried" part sounds like Mama Kitsune didn't try to reach her magic potential, Raven might have tried but if she refused to take direction in that subject then she likely didn't awaken. I still get the impression that Mama Kitsune is the older sister, so if Adrian failed to get her interested in magic, but was able to get Noriko interested, then it would make sense for him to have put more effort into maintaining that interest, which could have been the basis for him believing he was a terrible influence in Noriko putting her career ahead of her family.

"If she tried" referred to "equally powerful". It's completely possible that she awakened just didn't trained enough to reach Noriko's levels.

And I think that Dan is preparing plot twist with Mrs. Kitsune knowing more than she pretends and her being awakened would match that more.

11 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:
41 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

castle of Foobar

You do realize that "Foobar" is really "FUBAR" which is a WWII shorthand for "F___ed Up Beyond All Recognition." It was also the title of an episode of Ken Burns The War.

Yes, but it's also used as metasyntactic variable for nearly 60 years.

On the other hand, I did imagine castle Foobar being partially in ruins, so ...

14 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:
39 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Travel agent?

For destinations that are literally out of this world?

And quite often final?

15 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

All this talk about Noriko and her family has stirred up my curiosity about Mr. Kitsune. There's no evidence that he even speaks English. It is extremely rare to find Americans of Japanese descent who can speak Japanese, so Mr. Kitsune would most likely be from Japan if Dan has really thought out his backstory at all. That may imply an arranged marriage, still not uncommon in Japan. Perhaps Noriko deserted Tedd even before her sister finished high school. That seems like a stronger source for the bad press she gave Nanase about him than just being a demanding teacher.

Deserted Tedd before Mrs. Kitsune finished high school? Could she even get legally married so soon - wait, you think Noriko is the older sister, right?

Still, remember Nanase is similarly aged as Tedd. Mrs. Kitsune can't be that young.

 

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6 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

FUBAR was significantly later...

You err. SNAFU was quickly joined by a whole family of FUs. There was even a Private Snafu cartoon series voiced by Mel Blanc.

 

4 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

Mrs. Kitsune can't be that young.

Well, yes, although she could be younger than Noriko. Heck, Noriko could be older than Edward. But Tedd and Nanase are indeed around the same age. Forget the "still in High School" hypothesis.

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1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:
1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

Mrs. Kitsune can't be that young.

Well, yes, although she could be younger than Noriko. Heck, Noriko could be older than Edward.

But I'm pretty sure she's not older than Adrian Raven :)

I still think Noriko and Edward MET at high school, maybe Raven got them together? To parallel current group of eight little more.

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

But Tedd and Nanase are indeed around the same age. Forget the "still in High School" hypothesis.

If it would be true Elliot wouldn't worry so much about HIS mother age.

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First thing comes to mind when it comes to Private Snafu: "Spies".

But hey, at least the family part is sorta on the books. History has its eyes on everyone.

However, if Noriko was a travel agent, it better not be correlated to the France trip. Or I might have gone to the slipperiest of slopes. [speaking of which, today is Bastille Day]

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3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

All this talk about Noriko and her family has stirred up my curiosity about Mr. Kitsune. There's no evidence that he even speaks English. It is extremely rare to find Americans of Japanese descent who can speak Japanese, so Mr. Kitsune would most likely be from Japan if Dan has really thought out his backstory at all. That may imply an arranged marriage, still not uncommon in Japan. Perhaps Noriko deserted Tedd even before her sister finished high school. That seems like a stronger source for the bad press she gave Nanase about him than just being a demanding teacher.

We've met him; he's white.  My guess would be he took her name, which is not uncommon in Japan when the wife's a blueblood.  Presumably Mamase is firstborn.

Although... this means Nanase's mother is a wizard... is it possible to be a wizard, be awakened, and still not know the former?

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1 hour ago, WR...S said:

Although... this means Nanase's mother is a wizard... is it possible to be a wizard, be awakened, and still not know the former?

What makes you think Nanase's mother doesn't know she's wizard? She knows more than she wants to admit to Nanase. Do you also believe her she has no sister? Also, how much are we sure those thunders are caused by hair fairy as opposed to being Mrs. Kitsune spell?

1 hour ago, WR...S said:

My guess would be he took her name, which is not uncommon in Japan when the wife's a blueblood.  Presumably Mamase is firstborn.

Technically, we don't know if he took her name, just that she didn't took his.

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Just now, hkmaly said:

And I think that Dan is preparing plot twist with Mrs. Kitsune knowing more than she pretends and her being awakened would match that more.

It's obvious she knows more that she lets on, but she can still know about her family being monster hunters and the existence of magic and probably even Adrian being an Elf, but she could still have refused to take part in any of it.

 

Just now, CritterKeeper said:
Just now, WR...S said:

In the page you linked, Mr. Kitsune has lighter hair, but he does have the same eye shape as the rest of the family, which Dan uses for Asian descent.  Based on that, I'd guess he's part Japanese.

There's also this sketchbook, while having everyone genderswapped, still indicates asian descent for Nanase's father, also it's apparent that Nanase get's her hair colour from her dad.

1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

Also, how much are we sure those thunders are caused by hair fairy as opposed to being Mrs. Kitsune spell?

It was stormy-looking that day, could have been just a coincidence.

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A night's sleep has brought forth a twist or two on my speculation about Nanase and Akiko having an arranged marriage. What if the original bride was supposed to be Noriko?

Let's posit that the never-seen-or-even-mentioned parents of Noriko and her sister were not happy with Noriko hooking up with Edward and arranged a pre-emptive marriage. But Noriko marries Edward anyway, maybe with a little help from Adrian? And maybe Nanase's mom would have kind of liked to hook up with Edward, which further helps to explain why Mrs. Kitsune takes Edward's side and seems to have very little use for her own sister. Also, it reinforces the ambivalence she feels toward Nanase, who has grown up to look and perhaps act so much like Noriko. Maybe taking up with Ellen has actually helped soften Mrs. Kitsune's attitude because that, at least, differences Nanase from Noriko.

And this supports the marginal position Nanase's dad seems to occupy. Nanase doesn't seem to be very impressed with him.

Yeah, it's all conjecture, but I think it's an interesting and plausible backstory, so that's what I'm going with unless Dan deigns to say otherwise.

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Mrs Kitsune is not unwilling to work for what she wants.  Pandora says she could have been a powerful Wizard if she tried.  To me this indicates that she does not WANT to be a Muenster Hunter.

Noriko probably wasn't the first Mrs Kitsune's relatives to endanger or destroy their own lives, their families, and even their communities through the study and practice of the arcane arts.

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7 hours ago, WR...S said:

My guess would be he took her name, which is not uncommon in Japan when the wife's a blueblood. 

Or when the guy doesn't like his last name and the gal does like hers. Then there's my brother and his wife, neither of whom liked their last names and went for something competely different - and let us find out when they were at the altar. O_o

Many different cats out of one bag here. And if Tedd asks his father, I can see the conversation going like this:

"I told Nanase not to tell you!" >:(

"NANASE KNOWS?!?" D: "WHY AM I THE LAST ONE TO FIND OUT ABOUT THINGS I SHOULD HAVE ALREADY BEEN TOLD??"

Also, sorry Tedd, but if your mom really is a travel agent for mundanes, then she's not visiting for Christmas because she doesn't want to (or Edward doesn't want her to). As a travel agent, she should be able to find the best deal for traveling somewhere - that's what travel agents do; she might even get a discount if she books through work. So, yeah. Not too expensive, that's just an excuse that you'll buy. Did it come from mom or dad? :(

"A falling out," huh? I wonder if Pandora knows what the falling out was...?

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2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Mrs Kitsune is not unwilling to work for what she wants.  Pandora says she could have been a powerful Wizard if she tried.  To me this indicates that she does not WANT to be a Muenster Hunter.

Noriko probably wasn't the first Mrs Kitsune's relatives to endanger or destroy their own lives, their families, and even their communities through the study and practice of the arcane arts.

...which means not only does Mrs. Kitsune not want that life for herself, she doesn't want it for her daughter either.

 

1 hour ago, Kazzellin said:

Or when the guy doesn't like his last name and the gal does like hers. Then there's my brother and his wife, neither of whom liked their last names and went for something competely different - and let us find out when they were at the altar. O_o

I like that thinking.  I'm not sure I'd have the fortitude to do it, myself mind you....

1 hour ago, Kazzellin said:

Many different cats out of one bag here. And if Tedd asks his father, I can see the conversation going like this:

"I told Nanase not to tell you!" >:(

"NANASE KNOWS?!?" D: "WHY AM I THE LAST ONE TO FIND OUT ABOUT THINGS I SHOULD HAVE ALREADY BEEN TOLD??"

Hopefully Tedd would volunteer his information source.  Once he comes out of shock, he would need to validate everything Pandora told him.  Given the amount that Tedd and Ed are butting heads Tedd might use other means than telling his dad "hey, Dad?  And Immortal told me my mom is a monster hunter and everyone thought I was gonna be a wizard when I was born?" but might research the stuff himself and confront Ed Verres with the truth when he's sure.

1 hour ago, Kazzellin said:

Also, sorry Tedd, but if your mom really is a travel agent for mundanes, then she's not visiting for Christmas because she doesn't want to (or Edward doesn't want her to). As a travel agent, she should be able to find the best deal for traveling somewhere - that's what travel agents do; she might even get a discount if she books through work. So, yeah. Not too expensive, that's just an excuse that you'll buy. Did it come from mom or dad? :(

"A falling out," huh? I wonder if Pandora knows what the falling out was...?

I'd expect she does.  She might even have been watching as it happened.

Every good superhero needs a day job.  Noriko might be a great monster hunter because it works off the frustration of dealing with muggle problems all day.  Including, if she indeed looks very like Nanase, getting passes made at her regularly and not being able to kill the men making them.

That begs the question though: If she has had kids since Tedd, which seems the way to bet, where's the father for #2 and possibly more?  I know man-works-woman-stays-home is frightfully old-fashioned, but man-works-wife-goes-out-and-fights-monsters seems in keeping with the times.  Working a mundane job suggests single-motherhood and I'd expect Noriko would want more help raising a next generation of avenger in the night than a sperm donor.

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Anyone remember the Get Smart TV series from the 1960s? It was a spy comedy. Maxwell Smart's cover was as a greeting card salesman.

James Bond posed as a bird expert. Actually, Ian Fleming named James Bond after an actual bird expert because he wanted the dullest, most uninteresting name he could imagine. A book by the real James Bond is actually used as a prop in one of the Sean Connery Bond movies.

And considering that web services have been killing off travel agencies much like Netflix killed Blockbuster for years now, Dan just might have picked that cover for Noriko for precisely the same reason as Mel Brooks made Maxwell Smart as a spy posing as a greeting card salesman: implausibility.

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