A Boy Calling 2015-03-12

[Atomic]

Yall keep this up and we will all be glowing in the dark. Aint worried about Naomi, she can find her own soap opera.

Who's Naomi? Is this a joke people under a certain age don't get, or is it something I should totally know but I wasn't paying enough attention? (the latter happens all the time. I have a strange rate of exposure to culture)

Following on to the "As the Stomach Turns" comment, it was a skit from the Carol Burnett show of the 1960s. Comedianne par Excellence she, Carol Burnett used her variety show to lampoon everything under the sun with the help of her supporting cast which included Vicky Lawrence, Tim Conway, and Harvey Korman. The Soap Operas of the 1950-60s (so called because they sold detergent to housewives) eventually became their own parodies by having endless variations of bonehead snobs and busybodies forever getting in each other's way and trying to meddle in anything and everything. Keep in mind that most of these daily dramas were live television, with all the hazards of live TV -- missed cues, blundered sound effects, and mangled lines. One of the stereotypes was the end scene narrator (Meanwhile, back at the ranch...) who would grievously intone foreshadowing questions -- "Will Brad find Janet's missing ring? Will Louise recover from her coma? Can Margret hide in David's closet until Cynthia leaves? And -- what about Naomi?? Tune in tomorrow for (organ music swells) As The Stomach Turns!"

And in salute to that fabulous era:

• The Dentist Sketch
  The Circus Elephant
  Gone with the Wind

Screen spew alert -- watch at your peril!

[oldmanmickey]

Well i wasnt going to dredge up old memories till you posted that but yes, two of my favorite shows from that timer period was Carol Brunette and the Red Skeleton show. The tv of my misspent youth.

[Dave]

That's disappointing. I could live with being a pink radioactive mutant if it came with superpowers.

Nothing much, I'm afraid. At best you'd get what Marquez ascribed to one of the young men in "One Hundred Years Of Solitude": a flatulence that could wither flowers.

Hardly seems worth it.

[AnotherFairportfan]

That's disappointing. I could live with being a pink radioactive mutant if it came with superpowers.

Nothing much, I'm afraid. At best you'd get what Marquez ascribed to one of the young men in "One Hundred Years Of Solitude": a flatulence that could wither flowers.

Hardly seems worth it.

Hey - Le Petomane made a good career on the stage out of that.

[AnotherFairportfan]

...and then there was Graeme Garden...

[AmriloJim]

(I think i was the one who dragged the reference , kicking and screaming, in here.)

And I helped.

[CraigR]

(I haven't been on the forums for a while, and haven't read the last couple threads, so sorry if somebody else came up with this theory)

Oh, CRAP. I think I get it. I was confused about Nadette crying over the reasons Kath gave, since N pretty much said she was okay with casual fun with Atsali while A pursued her boy.

But then I thought back to the first time A used her siren song on Burdine, and N said as a seer, "not all of me is here to affect."

What if A's song did affect N, just not immediately? And for the following several days/weeks (however long it's been) N felt an attraction to A and thought she was falling in love with her. Now the effects of the song are finally fading from N. That would explain the tears.

[GlytchMeister]

(I haven't been on the forums for a while, and haven't read the last couple threads, so sorry if somebody else came up with this theory)

Oh, CRAP. I think I get it. I was confused about Nadette crying over the reasons Kath gave, since N pretty much said she was okay with casual fun with Atsali while A pursued her boy.

But then I thought back to the first time A used her siren song on Burdine, and N said as a seer, "not all of me is here to affect."

What if A's song did affect N, just not immediately? And for the following several days/weeks (however long it's been) N felt an attraction to A and thought she was falling in love with her. Now the effects of the song are finally fading from N. That would explain the tears.

So instead of immunity, you're suggesting mere resistance? An intriguing notion. Perhaps Nadette is immune to Siren powers, but not Succubus powers, which Atsali has, due to her Incubus father. This combination results in partial resistance: Nadette is immune to the Siren stuff, but the Succubus stuff eventually gets to her?

I haven't seen this theory up til now, but I'm kinda behind on my lurking too, so I'm not fully qualified to say your theory is yours first. Still, it's certainly interesting.

[illiad]

What if A's song did affect N, just not immediately? And for the following several days/weeks (however long it's been) N felt an attraction to A and thought she was falling in love with her. Now the effects of the song are finally fading from N. That would explain the tears.

well, its been a bit overdone in the forum... But I think its more 'delayed shock'... having experienced effectively at first hand, the 'death panic' of the many rushing to the stasis cubes, maybe also the psychic connection of Atsali's memories, jumping on a 'could be fatal' rocket, and then an angry grandma, not much time for it!!!!

[oldmanmickey]

What if A's song did affect N, just not immediately? And for the following several days/weeks (however long it's been) N felt an attraction to A and thought she was falling in love with her. Now the effects of the song are finally fading from N. That would explain the tears.

well, its been a bit overdone in the forum... But I think its more 'delayed shock'... having experienced effectively at first hand, the 'death panic' of the many rushing to the stasis cubes, maybe also the psychic connection of Atsali's memories, jumping on a 'could be fatal' rocket, and then an angry grandma, not much time for it!!!!

Given all she has been through most people would be crying and i suspect you could not drive a needle up their end with a 20 lb sledge hammer.

[GlytchMeister]

We just have insufficient data and too many possibilities. Our only real choice here is to wait for Paul/Pablo (nobody's told me what is preferred here so I'm just gonna use both now) to clear it all up for us and collapse this near-infinitely indistinct waveform reality he's built.
Or he could just add yet another character or have Castela's or Atsali's creators/bio-parents show up on Friday and laugh maniacally as he listens as our poor brains howl in pain.

I bet confusion corner is making huge profits right now.

[GlytchMeister]

Given all she has been through most people would be crying and i suspect you could not drive a needle up their end with a 20 lb sledge hammer.

Ok, really? That needle and sledgehammer thing made no sense to me. Up who's end? Why are we driving needles up people's ends with sledgehammers? I know it's (probably... Hopefully) a figure of speech, but... every fiber of my being just went "huh?"

If you have to think, it's head-tilt kink.

[illiad]

We just have insufficient data and too many possibilities. Our only real choice here is to wait for Paul/Pablo (nobody's told me what is preferred here so I'm just gonna use both now) to clear it all up for us and collapse this near-infinitely indistinct waveform reality he's built.
Or he could just add yet another character or have Castela's or Atsali's creators/bio-parents show up on Friday and laugh maniacally as he listens as our poor brains howl in pain.

I bet confusion corner is making huge profits right now.

erm pablo is mexican for paul... and if you see two attractive sexy smiling young girls holding hands, how do you tell if they are lovers or just friends???

[Amethyst Shadow]

The parenting class mention is a nice touch. Since Kath is over 20 years away from childhood, I was wondering how she was able to dredge up such good parenting skills out of the blue. And the fact that they have a supernatural bent helps explain how she has managed to keep body and soul together over the last few months.

Well, the fact that the kids themselves are good. And she didn't have to deal with the usual toddler (2-3 year) period.

Really it's just basic woman/teen-aged girl stuff she's had to deal with outside of the paranormal crap. That's something I think she's got a bit of experience regarding

[Mark N]

What if A's song did affect N, just not immediately? And for the following several days/weeks (however long it's been) N felt an attraction to A and thought she was falling in love with her. Now the effects of the song are finally fading from N. That would explain the tears.

I am thinking that part of Nadette's crying is that she realizes that she may have just manipulated her best friend into something untoward and just became the horrible groper (a weak word but it works here) that she probably despises. As for how her sight works I would think that she sees possible futures until events alter the waveforms to remove and replace previous probablities.
What she did with Cricket was not future sight but past sight so that is 100% accurate since the events have happened and are now immutable but she still did not see everything since she saw shadows and did not realize that they were gossamer.. I also think that when Katherine told Atsali to be careful with Nadette she was thinking about Nadette being harmed. This all does show a path to Atsali's future profession as a novelist writing 'young adult novels' since this is the type of stuff that works in them.

[oldmanmickey]

Given all she has been through most people would be crying and i suspect you could not drive a needle up their end with a 20 lb sledge hammer.

Ok, really? That needle and sledgehammer thing made no sense to me. Up who's end? Why are we driving needles up people's ends with sledgehammers? I know it's (probably... Hopefully) a figure of speech, but... every fiber of my being just went "huh?"

If you have to think, it's head-tilt kink.

and when you have to explain muscular reactions of sheer terror or gripping emotional response it takes all the snideness out of it. Perhaps further illumination might be available by looking up the colloquialism "tighter than a ducks rear end" and extrapolate to fear reactions.

[Dave]

The phrase "high pucker factor" is also relevant.

[jwhouk]

Two things I see wrong with the "it's just now catching up to her" theory:

1. Nadette was already showing interest in Atsali from the get-go. In fact, it could be argued that Nadette was the one who said this in their first encounter together at the mall. She did comment that she thought Atsali was a "beautiful wood elf", so the attraction was already there. And, of course, there was this incident, where Nadette's eyes were, um, wandering.

2. Nadette specifically said during the beach scene that "those who have strong feelings for you will also have protection from your singing." Now, this is where the misunderstandings began, but it was proven shortly thereafter when Atsali tried her song on Castela - who thought she was off her rocker.

Nadette does, indeed, have strong feelings towards Atsali - in fact, she might (at some later point) reveal that she knew something about her relationship with Atsali from the time that they first met, but kept it to herself (or maybe only revealed it to Berdine). The idea that the Siren Song thing is just now catching up to Nadette goes against what Pablo has put out there, to date.

SIDE NOTE: "Pablo" is the informal name of the "unseeing hand" behind the strip's gyrations. "Paul" is a more formal name of the strip's creator/artist.

[TazManiac]

You know, back when this whole mini-arc was getting started, I was thinking there would be more 'Scooby-Gang' type action. Now that we've (so far anyway) seen what we've seen, it makes more sense that these two went thought it together, alone together.

That said, I'm still thinking Be(a)rndine should/might have been along to help out.

Carbon Control Rod of sorts for her twin sister, third point of view for the whole "I see one thing thats real to me, I don't care that you are seeing something totally different, thats real to you...' thing.

And of course Calista could have broken something, or Sneezed, or punched somebody.... And maybe a tuna-girl along for the betterment of Fish Out Of Water trope....

OK, I'll stop now.

[Hansontoons]

The phrase "high pucker factor" is also relevant.

Sounds like that's the way I drive to work most mornings; good times, bad times, dazed and confused as I ramble on. Chop my way through the Woodlands, suffer delays in Spring, wish Greenspoint was defoliated, tighten up on the beltway.