Just Me 2013-04-22

[as363]

Kudos to those who called Brandi as the force behind . Seems by the look on Kath's face that there is some "splaining" to do. I do hope that Brandi will provide safe transport to the next stop in the journey (anything that does not involve dynamite and rail cars would be much appreciated .

Faith can move mountains - but nothing beats a fast draw - Nelse McLeod .

[TheDOCTOR]

Note how Brandi is dressed, casual when moments earlier she was in a bussiness suit. Is it possible we have 2 Brandis and this one is from the future and knows how everything plays out?

[jwhouk]

Unless my connectome is losing memory strands, I don't think Kath and Brandi's first meeting was presented onstage. Assuming Monica introduced them, the "casual" Brandi is the one most people know. Brandi's backstory is only slowly being filled in.

And as for coffee houses, apart from picking up the Key, Brandi doesn't seem to visit Mucho Mocha. The same goes for Katherine: Tina's take on her could be epic.

I was going to say - I don't think Kath and Brandi have ever met before, have they?

[Dave]

Starbucks? Are you even allowed to say that name this close to Mucho Mocha?

There's plenty of precedent. They've been asking "Do you renounce Satan and all of his works?" in church for centuries!

And I agree, I wouldn't care to be on the receiving end of that quiet "Excuse me?" from Katherine. Not even if I were physically invulnerable. If there were any doubt at all about how bright she is, the speed with which she caught the implications of Brandi's question and went from startlement to "I have been most royally and completely set up!" should settle those doubts.

Assuming that Brandi is telling the truth, I expect that Monica is going to find herself being asked some very pointed questions at some future moment.

[eee]

This is interesting. I I knew Brandi and Kath had met before, perhaps gone drinking together with Monica once or twice, but they seem rather... familiar... with each other here. Of course Kath wouldn't know who and what Brandi is. And given that Atsali isn't having a panic attack, SHE doesn't either; or is convinced they're not in danger from someone to whom they're little more than soap bubbles.

Sort of like a little kid meeting Superman. Without the hero worship.

Brandi seems taken aback by Atsali's outburst. Evidently she didn't expect that from the kid.

[zachariah]

Unless my connectome is losing memory strands, I don't think Kath and Brandi's first meeting was presented onstage. Assuming Monica introduced them, the "casual" Brandi is the one most people know. Brandi's backstory is only slowly being filled in.

And as for coffee houses, apart from picking up the Key, Brandi doesn't seem to visit Mucho Mocha. The same goes for Katherine: Tina's take on her could be epic.

I was going to say - I don't think Kath and Brandi have ever met before, have they?

I think Monica took Kathy to club Cerbeus once. That is where they met. I'll see if I can find it.

[Jabberwonky]

Starbucks? Are you even allowed to say that name this close to Mucho Mocha?

There's plenty of precedent. They've been asking "Do you renounce Satan and all of his works?" in church for centuries!

[cmdrpowers]

Unless my connectome is losing memory strands, I don't think Kath and Brandi's first meeting was presented onstage. Assuming Monica introduced them, the "casual" Brandi is the one most people know. Brandi's backstory is only slowly being filled in.

And as for coffee houses, apart from picking up the Key, Brandi doesn't seem to visit Mucho Mocha. The same goes for Katherine: Tina's take on her could be epic.

I was going to say - I don't think Kath and Brandi have ever met before, have they?

I think Monica took Kathy to club Cerbeus once. That is where they met. I'll see if I can find it.

That sounds right to me. I know that Kathy has been out drinking and partying with Monica's friends- I'm just not sure which friends. As far as the supernatural aspect goes, I thought that Kathy was completely read in a long time ago. She's been to the library for gosh sake! It's this manipulation that's going to sting her the most. As far as Atsali goes- I love her reaction to all this. Her characterization is perfect!

[jwhouk]

I think Kath went out with Monica and the friends from Darren's - not at Club Cerberus.

[Julie]

Note how Brandi is dressed, casual when moments earlier she was in a bussiness suit. Is it possible we have 2 Brandis and this one is from the future and knows how everything plays out?

We didn't see her ina business suit moments earlier. We saw her in a business suit a while ago.

As for today's strip...it was a huge sigh of relief for me. Brandi's appearance meant fewer questions with the potential for explanations. Anyone else would have meant much more time spent in the mind-bent section of Confusion Corner.

I also agree with the few who've pointed out that Brandi's tone only confirms her awareness of the adventure, which isn't breaking news since we knew the Library had informed the MiB of Kat and Atsali's "quest." Even if she had some hand in the planning of Kat and Atsali's meeting, I highly doubt that she realized the danger that Kat and Atsali would be exposed to...and yes, I know that a true "Chess Master" would consider every possibility and be aware of every detail that could impact their plans, but I don't see how Miss "Can't Hurt a Fly" would plan for Kat and Atsali to go on "a roller coaster ride dipped in dynamite." I'm going to stay in the "she didn't plan it" or "she didn't know how to calculate for all of the variables" camp until I've been given reason to think otherwise.

[Stigmartyr762]

This is exactly what I thought was going to happen. And it would happen in the very temple Brandi used to guard way back when she was just a Golem.

[Dave]

I also agree with the few who've pointed out that Brandi's tone only confirms her awareness of the adventure, which isn't breaking news since we knew the Library had informed the MiB of Kat and Atsali's "quest." Even if she had some hand in the planning of Kat and Atsali's meeting, I highly doubt that she realized the danger that Kat and Atsali would be exposed to...and yes, I know that a true "Chess Master" would consider every possibility and be aware of every detail that could impact their plans, but I don't see how Miss "Can't Hurt a Fly" would plan for Kat and Atsali to go on "a roller coaster ride dipped in dynamite." I'm going to stay in the "she didn't plan it" or "she didn't know how to calculate for all of the variables" camp until I've been given reason to think otherwise.

Which raises a question. If our Chessmaster wasn't the one who set up that intricate 15-point bank-shot-from-Hellride through the mine, air, and mesa... then who did?? What other player that we know about could pull off something like that? Does Brandi have a counterpart or rival?

There were just so very many ways that the hellride could have gone wrong... I mean, the sort of wrongness which would have left both Katherine and Alsali quite thoroughly dead. One or two seconds of delay in getting into the mine cart, a gust of wind, a slight weight shift in the cart... and SPLUT and it's all over. Setting things up so that they would survive (and with only non-incapacitating injuries) must have been infernally complex, or required the ability to bend probability so hard that its shoulder dislocated worse than Atsali's.

Hmmm... I'm almost beginning to wonder whether Katherine does have a paranormal streak (as folks have been suggesting) and that it has to do with Luck. Between what we've seen here, and in the flashback of the Dead Sea Dig massacre, she seems to have been improbably fortunate in those moments when the fewmets are striking the windmill. If that's the case, then the trap in the mine might not have involved an incredibly subtle setup... it might have been intended to be lethal, and if Kath hadn't been in the party when it was triggered, it would have worked.

Hmmm again. Subtle manipulation. Manipulator not apparent, but pulling the strings from somewhere in the shadows. Improbably lucky survivor, being manipulated into participation in a dangerous mission.

Oh damn.

Nessus??

[Yamara]

I think Kath went out with Monica and the friends from Darren's - not at Club Cerberus.

Yeah, Recluse Spider Kath did not give the impression of being a club monkey. http://wapsisquare.com/comic/11142003/ At least we have a handle as to why she doesn't connect socially.

However, it was implied she was up to speed on the GGs, and with a pass to the Library, she's likely aware of most of Monica's supernatural life, at least up to just before Jaguar manifested.

But it's fine that Kath and Brandi have known each other; formal intros take a lot of panel space, and perhaps they've been plotting outside of M's (and our) knowledge for awhile. Though I suspect Brandi is trying to bring Kath into her deeper circles only now. They have a great deal in common, after all.


Also, Brandi's question-as-statement still needs to be addressed before they all distract each other. Why indeed.

[DilyV]

Everyone that voted " Brandi", give yourself a cookie. And bonus points who said that the Senior Director set all this in motion. Maybe she wanted to get some resolution for more than one person here. Lily needing to deal with the circumstances of her rizing as a vampire seems obvious, but maybe Kath and Atsali need their own little bit of closure, or at least some friends, too.

Yeah, that's kinda my take on the events too.
Wild guess: Brandi is expertly busy forming a new branch in the MiB, and needs clear heads.
It's almost like the standard way team-based adventure games go: Get members, fix their problems, have team, fix giant, galaxy-threatening problem. (Kotor, Mass effect and their ilk) Elder Gods entering earth-realm through leaks/unknown portals in the Lanthian gizmos-powered protection grid could be the kind of "giant problem" Brandi needs her team for.

After that run in with the mine full of dynamite? Clear heads, sinuses, bladder, bowels... LOL

[DilyV]

Note how Brandi is dressed, casual when moments earlier she was in a bussiness suit. Is it possible we have 2 Brandis and this one is from the future and knows how everything plays out?

We didn't see her ina business suit moments earlier. We saw her in a business suit a while ago.

As for today's strip...it was a huge sigh of relief for me. Brandi's appearance meant fewer questions with the potential for explanations. Anyone else would have meant much more time spent in the mind-bent section of Confusion Corner.

I also agree with the few who've pointed out that Brandi's tone only confirms her awareness of the adventure, which isn't breaking news since we knew the Library had informed the MiB of Kat and Atsali's "quest." Even if she had some hand in the planning of Kat and Atsali's meeting, I highly doubt that she realized the danger that Kat and Atsali would be exposed to...and yes, I know that a true "Chess Master" would consider every possibility and be aware of every detail that could impact their plans, but I don't see how Miss "Can't Hurt a Fly" would plan for Kat and Atsali to go on "a roller coaster ride dipped in dynamite." I'm going to stay in the "she didn't plan it" or "she didn't know how to calculate for all of the variables" camp until I've been given reason to think otherwise.

In the Army we had a saying...

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

That being said, I'm with those who think Brandi had a hand in this, just not the dynamite/collapsing adobe sturctures/etc. I don't think any of what happened could truly have been planned for. It was, as they say, a comedy of errors, set in motion by a mistake, wrapped in an enigma.

Walks out humming Berlin's "Destination Unknown" and flips a U-bahn tag-karte ticket into the pun jar for good measure.

[DilyV]

Which raises a question. If our Chessmaster wasn't the one who set up that intricate 15-point bank-shot-from-Hellride through the mine, air, and mesa... then who did??

Mayhem...

Like me.

*laughs Maniacally and drops a "Best of Mayhem, Like Me" video into the pun jar.*

[Sphinx-Napped]

to quote scooby doo's cousin

Dum dum dum DUM!

okay brandi explain to the class how and why you got up there please{other then using a cop out}

~ gets behind the imaginary school desk and awaits today lesson.

[DilyV]

I think that Kath is in for a big reveal... I get the feeling that Brandi is going to let Kath in on the secret of the century, and it's about Kath and who she is. Kath is healing too quickly (the gash on her forhead appears as a scrape now). That has to be explained somehow... and it might just be some latent powers are just awakening. I agree that a lot of the players involved here are receiving answers to a lot of their life's questions in this 'adventure'. Kath, Atsali, Lily... and Suzi is being gleaned for future leadership potential. The chopper crews? Not so much. They'll be lucky to escape being Lily snaqs...

[NOTDilbert]

Which raises a question. If our Chessmaster wasn't the one who set up that intricate 15-point bank-shot-from-Hellride through the mine, air, and mesa... then who did?? What other player that we know about could pull off something like that?

For all those who agreed that the exit from the Library portal (Mine) was very like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon - I propose Nudge designed that particular Library portal defense. Yes, the gal who may actually BE Coyote. She does work for the Library, and as a demigod, can probably program the 'ejectors' sequence of events juuuusst right - and it may already be reset for the next trespasser. And it would be just like Nudge to forget to have it disable itself for people LEAVING the Library peacefully......

[Fairportfan]

Note how Brandi is dressed, casual when moments earlier she was in a bussiness suit. Is it possible we have 2 Brandis and this one is from the future and knows how everything plays out?

Uh; last i recall seeing Brandi in a suit was when she was recruiting our two favourite mosquitoes, and that was a while ago.