Phix and Shelly

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Boxilar
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Phix and Shelly

Post by Boxilar »

With Monica's recent second full resurrection and her apparent full transformation/metamorphosis into Jaguar Girl, I went back to the comic that got the current story arc rolling. The reveal of Shelly's true lineage, Monica's fear of Phix after witnessing her feral side and M being forced to confront and acccept her true nature kicked off here. http://wapsisquare.com/comic/lickable/

On the read through, something struck me as odd. Phix's reaction to Shelly's anger seemed a bit out of character considering how she reacted to everyone else who confronted her. Bia got tightly contained fury and a rapid eviction from the library via Sphinx fist. Meadea was killed and subsequently eaten when she gave Phix some lip. Phix pursued Nudge through the Bibliothiki and looked like she had every intention of causing Nudge grevious bodily harm until the Head Librarian snapped out of her rage with the realization that her Trickster pal couldn't fly. And what was Phix's reaction to Shelly's anger and threatening posture?

She fliches away from her and cries.

There are two possibilities for her reaction. The first is fairly obvious. While Shelly didn't know the Truth about her own heritage, Phix did. Phix's comment to Bia that "You may be a Titan, but you're on my turf now," implys that Titans are more powerful than Sphinxes. Shelly told Monica right after coming back from the Time Forrest that a Sphinx was invincible in the place she gaurds, except to other Sphinxes. And Shelly is both Titan and Sphinx. Phixes reaction might have been one of fear, but I think it's more complicated than that.

Shelly told Justin that Phix was a Mentor and mother figure to her during her stay in the time forrest, and Shelly's reaction to finding out she was still being manipulated "like a f**king pawn" was one of a child raging at a parent who had betrayed her, but in my opinion, Phix's reaction isn't that of a parent or mentor. It's the reaction of a child being scolded by a parent or mentor.

And I think the Time Forrest is to blame. (Warning; temporal confusion ahead)

Okay, This all begins, from Shelly's perspective, when she takes hold of the incomplete Viama Cell and is transported into the Time Forrest. She then begins moving in reverse time to the rest of the universe. CLG protects her from the Apotropaic Sphinxes who otherwise would have killed her. She starts meeting alternate versions of herself and at some point transforms into her "true" Sphinx form. She meets Phix who teaches her what she needs to know about being a Sphinx and teaches her just about everything else about what is going on. Shelly One enters the Forrest, completes the Viama Cell and dies, and Shelly returns instanly to the moment she left, fast enough that Bud, who has super human senses and reflexes, never sees her leave. After this, Shelly regards Phix as a mentor and surrogate mother.

From Phixes perspective, things would have been very different. From the perspective of everyone outside the Time Forrest, Shelly, or rather, The Sage of the Forrest, would have simply appeared. And this wouldn't have been a confused human Shelly either. This would have been the feral being that Shelly became, a half Sphinx, half Titan who likely was unassailable on her of turf, even without her Companion. This would have been the Sphinx a much younger Phix would have met for the first time. Shelly would be at the end of her stay in the Time Forrest, and Phix would be eighty thousand years younger. Most of what Phix would teach Shelly in the begining of her stay in the Forrest, Shelly would have first taught Phix as she traveled forward in normal time.

From Phix's perspective, Shelly is the mentor and mother figure. It's why she didn't tell Shelly she is a Titan and immortal. Shelly's wish was to return to a "normal" human life. Phix was desperate to give her what she wanted, she was a child trying to please a parent. Shelly's anger made Phix cry like a child being scolded by her mother. And Phix's current snit is that of a child raging against the injustice of a parent who dosen't appreciate what the child has done for her.

Of course, as always, I could be completely wrong. ;)
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jwhouk
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Re: Phix and Shelly

Post by jwhouk »

Of course, what Pablo could do to REALLY "mind screw" us all would be for us to reveal that Monica, after getting the spike put in her head, had portal access to the Time Forest all along (see the Library's comment about "passage to and through all portals").
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Dave
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Re: Phix and Shelly

Post by Dave »

jwhouk wrote:Of course, what Pablo could do to REALLY "mind screw" us all would be for us to reveal that Monica, after getting the spike put in her head, had portal access to the Time Forest all along (see the Library's comment about "passage to and through all portals").
... and that by diving through the Forest worldline, she traveled back in time far enough that in her mystical Jaguar form she was able to become the primal ancestress of the entire race of apotropaic sphinxes. :twisted:
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Boxilar
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Re: Phix and Shelly

Post by Boxilar »

Dave wrote:
jwhouk wrote:Of course, what Pablo could do to REALLY "mind screw" us all would be for us to reveal that Monica, after getting the spike put in her head, had portal access to the Time Forest all along (see the Library's comment about "passage to and through all portals").
... and that by diving through the Forest worldline, she traveled back in time far enough that in her mystical Jaguar form she was able to become the primal ancestress of the entire race of apotropaic sphinxes. :twisted:
Wuff, yeah, there's an interesting thought. I suppose it all depends on how Monica accesses the wormhole network and if the Time Forrest is set up to allow you to enter at one point and exit at another. Shelly was transported from a specific point in space/time and after her 80,000 year stay, was returned to her exact point of entry within nanoseconds of her leaving. But then, Shelly can't POIT and M can, and in addition to being able to POIT, M now has full Library access. The limitation of her poiting has always been that she can't really teleport to a place she's never been before. The portal cloths were made specifically to address this problem. She and Jin got around this when island hunting by "flying". POIT to a position a few thousand feet above the earth, get a good look around while falling, POIT to the horizon, and repeat as necessary.

The library opens up new possibilities. We've seen that it can instantly transport people to and from it without the drama of an audible POIT. Presumably, Monica has access to anywhere in the multiverse now, and once the Bibliothiki takes her there once, she will be able to teleport there at will. The real question is whether the Time Forrest is set up to allow "time travel" and on whether Paul wants to get into pre destination paradoxes or not. Shelly's origin may be the closest thing we get to time travel. But then, like everyone else, I'm along for the ride.

(Edit) If the Time Forrest does return you to your point of entry every time you enter it, that would explain how Phix, or other entities could enter anywhere along the timeline, interact with Shelly, and return to thier origin point without "altering" the time stream. The "return to point of origin" feature may be a bulit in mechanism of the Time Forrest to prevent temporal paradoxes, so you don't meet yourself coming as you are going, so to speak. For short lived folk, like humans, who entered the Forrest, pop in for an hour or so, then leave, re-enter at the entry point without realizing they were traveling "backwards" in time relative to thier own timeline. For immortals or other long lived folk, the Time Forrest could be a refuge, a place to retreat to for years, decades or even centuries to recuperate or study, then return to thier point of entry without any disruption in whatever duties they were assigned. Phix, for example, could have spent years at a time with Shelly, teaching her and bringing her books to read without any precived break in her duties as Head Librarian.

And that leads to another thought. All Sphinxes have a place of power that they gaurd and are invincible in. The Bibliothiki is Phix's. The Time Forrest was Shelly's. Maybe it still is. It would give Shelly a place to retreat to where she would be untouchable by anyone, or anything.
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bmonk
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Re: Phix and Shelly

Post by bmonk »

jwhouk wrote:Of course, what Pablo could do to REALLY "mind screw" us all would be for us to reveal that Monica, after getting the spike put in her head, had portal access to the Time Forest all along (see the Library's comment about "passage to and through all portals").
Having access does not necessarily mean that she knew about the place enough to get there. There are plenty of things hidden in plain sight (and access) on the internet--but until I realize it enough to go looking for them, they are not open to my access.
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jwhouk
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Re: Phix and Shelly

Post by jwhouk »

Which, of course, is an explanation of the Bilbiothiki itself.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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