Before She Melts 2012-09-20

Yamara · Post by **Yamara** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 5:56 am

Euryale could keep giving M a freeze-stare until help arrives, so melting needn't really be a thing.

The real problem is this repeat performance. I thought Euryale had a bit better of a grip on her danger: teasing Jin with a hug, shaming Monica into facing fear to save a friendship.

Though come to think of it, she only unleashes the Full Gorgon when something at the Library is involved. Maybe something there deeply upset her once upon a time.

And Nudge is deep in dot-connection mode. It seems that threat to lie to Phix was not meant for Monica.

Dave11 · Post by **Dave11** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 6:27 am

I see Monica fell square in the middle of the Sarchasm*.

On another note - next page may be borderline NSFW if it involves a bikini-clad Euryale thawing out a bikini-clad Monica...especially as the straps of Monica's bikini may have melted first...

*No, that's not a typo. Sarchasm (n): The distance between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who didn't get it.

(Drops a CD with a copy of my personal word processor dictionary file on it into the pun vault's media saver)

Bathorys Daughter · Post by **Bathorys Daughter** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 6:28 am

CraigR wrote:They better hurry, or Monica is gonna lose her toes and fingers. The smallest bits melt first.

This has been bothering me for a while: Could Euryale freeze someone, let them melt, collect the water, pour it in an ice mold shaped like the person, freeze it, and then revive them?

One thing I don't get is why did the water freeze? The water isn't a living being as such. So does that mean rocks would freeze if she did it to them?

Anyway, I guess it would depend on the structure of the "ice" as created by the queen of the icy stare. It could be that it has, encoded in it's crystalline patterns, a matrix of interconnecting structures and sub-structures representing the biological structure of the body as it was at the moment of freezing. If that is so, then the melting would destroy the human-shaped ice matrix "memory storage", subsequently making it impossible to reconstruct the body as it was.

OTOH, if it's all "magic," then, what the hell, sure, it would work. Though you might get something like the golems. The body is no longer human, but the soul is somehow still inside and the result still looks like the original. Of course such a being might be able to instantly freeze water by touching it or become something akin to that silly super hero who surfed on an ice sheet he created just in front of his surfboard, whatever his name was.

Yamara · Post by **Yamara** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 6:34 am

CraigR wrote:They better hurry, or Monica is gonna lose her toes and fingers. The smallest bits melt first.

This has been bothering me for a while: Could Euryale freeze someone, let them melt, collect the water, pour it in an ice mold shaped like the person, freeze it, and then revive them?

I don't think it's really "freezing" as that would just kill Monica, and it's not like her flesh and bones have been frozen solid. Her body has been replaced by ice.

Paul had a comment once that Stheno turned people into sand and Medusa, of course, into stone. Could Stheno or Maddie have recovered their victims with a kiss, or something similar? This would put their magic into the realm of superpositioned quantum states, where the victim is either a sentient creature or it's a pile of inanimate matter.

A Gorgon's anger, if acknowledged with visual contact, rejects the person's existence, and introduces an equivalent mass to potentially replace them. (In Euryale's case, an equal mass of ice.) If the Gorgon is satisfied with this, she can allow enough time to pass to allow the wave function to collapse, which seems considerably more hardy than the usual quantum state. A Gorgon's attentive sympathy reverses this, if applied before the replacement matter takes hold in the universe. Where the displaced person would be "sent" would make for a disturbing question.

Obviously Doctor Who's Weeping Angels make this point more directly, but the principle is the same.

Hm, the ocean isn't sentient, per se. So the water froze because the superimposed matter comes from such a potentially deep-frozen state, it affected the water around it.

I like making things up.

Knighttrap · Post by **Knighttrap** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 7:20 am

Yamara wrote:
CraigR wrote:They better hurry, or Monica is gonna lose her toes and fingers. The smallest bits melt first.

This has been bothering me for a while: Could Euryale freeze someone, let them melt, collect the water, pour it in an ice mold shaped like the person, freeze it, and then revive them?
I don't think it's really "freezing" as that would just kill Monica, and it's not like her flesh and bones have been frozen solid. Her body has been replaced by ice.

Paul had a comment once that Stheno turned people into sand and Medusa, of course, into stone. Could Stheno or Maddie have recovered their victims with a kiss, or something similar? This would put their magic into the realm of superpositioned quantum states, where the victim is either a sentient creature or it's a pile of inanimate matter.

A Gorgon's anger, if acknowledged with visual contact, rejects the person's existence, and introduces an equivalent mass to potentially replace them. (In Euryale's case, an equal mass of ice.) If the Gorgon is satisfied with this, she can allow enough time to pass to allow the wave function to collapse, which seems considerably more hardy than the usual quantum state. A Gorgon's attentive sympathy reverses this, if applied before the replacement matter takes hold in the universe. Where the displaced person would be "sent" would make for a disturbing question.

Obviously Doctor Who's Weeping Angels make this point more directly, but the principle is the same.

Hm, the ocean isn't sentient, per se. So the water froze because the superimposed matter comes from such a potentially deep-frozen state, it affected the water around it.

I like making things up.

Quantum Physics and the Supernatrual:Why this comic so entertains me. With most people the response would be, "Its Magic" and leave it at that.

jwhouk · Post by **jwhouk** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 7:36 am

Euryale maintains her sweet, sunny disposition for the same reason Bruce Banner takes prozac and practices zen.

"Don't get me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

korblimee47 · Post by **korblimee47** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:04 am

Re: Before She Melts 2012-09-20

Postby jwhouk » Thu Sep 20, 2012 7:36 am
Euryale maintains her sweet, sunny disposition for the same reason Bruce Banner takes prozac and practices zen.

"Don't get me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

I think you hit the proverbial nail right on the head with that comment

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:05 am

Bathorys Daughter wrote:One thing I don't get is why did the water freeze? The water isn't a living being as such. So does that mean rocks would freeze if she did it to them?

I'm going to chalk it up to proximity to the person who was frozen...kind of like when you grab an ice cube from the freezer with damp hands, the ice cube can freeze to your fingers...at least until you get it out in normal air and your body temp melts the connection point again.

Post by **MrFireDragon** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:10 am

buaahahahahahah...... I think this is going to be a regular situation between M and Euryale!!

I did snort out loud this time and everyone here is looking at me funny hahaha...

Wdot · Post by **Wdot** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:11 am

Bathorys Daughter wrote:When, when, when, when, when!? When is Monica going to learn not to look at Euryale when speaking to her? It's rude, but surely Euryale would understand and not take offense. Something can be frozen and unfrozen just so many times before some sort of permanent damage befalls it.

Though a little melting might be good. Monica's been wanting to take some off her breast size anyway.

The ICNoMore breast reduction plan?!

TheDOCTOR · Post by **TheDOCTOR** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:13 am

Wow, even the poor snakes are scared. If the ice froze around Monica and Euryale "thaws her out", would the ice on her body fall off or be absorbed into Monica ? The latter would not be good as Monica would gain 'water weight' however a quick trip to the Ladies room may solve that problem. Maybe Monica could invest in some Mirrored Sunglasses?

jwhouk · Post by **jwhouk** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:37 am

A thought - it's not the snakes that cause the freeze-out, is it? It's her stare.

lake_wrangler · Post by **lake_wrangler** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 9:41 am

Some random thoughts on today's comic:

- Was that a self-fulfilling prophecy, then?

- Death by frostbite.

- [Clue]It was Ms. Euryale. At the beach. With an icy stare.[/Clue]

- For someone who deals ice, that Gorgon sure is hot-headed...

Leak · Post by **Leak** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 10:05 am

lake_wrangler wrote:- For someone who deals ice, that Gorgon sure is hot-headed...

"Deals ice"?

Why do I suddenly have an image of Euryale walking across the beach with a tray selling ice that she keeps cool by staring it down in my mind?

Post by **Dave** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 10:11 am

Yamara wrote:The real problem is this repeat performance. I thought Euryale had a bit better of a grip on her danger: teasing Jin with a hug, shaming Monica into facing fear to save a friendship

It's clearly tied to sudden strong emotion... the first time, Euryale was surprised/shocked/startled, the second she was very urgently trying to make an important point (and perhaps was scared for Monica), and this third time she was shocked snd outraged. The analogy to Bruce Banner is a very good one... Euryale may have adopted a sunny and friendly persona in order to minimize the chances of conflicts with others that could trigger her defensive reaction. Isn't 100% effective, though... I imagine she'd have to constantly dose herself with industrial-strength tranquilizers to entirely eliminate any chance of an emotional response to the actions of other people, and that could leave her completely defenseless. I'm told that a skunk with its scent gland surgically removed is one of the sweetest, most mild-mannered animals around... and also one of the most vulnerable.

This third incident is only going to reinforce the lesson that Monica finally learned from Phix's little chow-down: paranormals are dangerous! This could make it even harder for Monica to overcome her fear and get up the gumption to stay "in the game".

bmonk · Post by **bmonk** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 10:24 am

Casey wrote:Icy you guys didn't really care for my pun. It got a rather chilly reception.

-carefully balances a chest freezer on top of the pun jar-

It would help if you'd melt our hearts first--just as they are gonna try to melt Monica's heart.

[drops a tube of Icy Hot in the freezer for the jar.]

bmonk · Post by **bmonk** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 10:29 am

Bathorys Daughter wrote:
CraigR wrote:They better hurry, or Monica is gonna lose her toes and fingers. The smallest bits melt first.

This has been bothering me for a while: Could Euryale freeze someone, let them melt, collect the water, pour it in an ice mold shaped like the person, freeze it, and then revive them?
One thing I don't get is why did the water freeze? The water isn't a living being as such. So does that mean rocks would freeze if she did it to them?

Anyway, I guess it would depend on the structure of the "ice" as created by the queen of the icy stare. It could be that it has, encoded in its crystalline patterns, a matrix of interconnecting structures and sub-structures representing the biological structure of the body as it was at the moment of freezing. If that is so, then the melting would destroy the human-shaped ice matrix "memory storage", subsequently making it impossible to reconstruct the body as it was.

OTOH, if it's all "magic," then, what the hell, sure, it would work. Though you might get something like the golems. The body is no longer human, but the soul is somehow still inside and the result still looks like the original. Of course such a being might be able to instantly freeze water by touching it or become something akin to that silly super hero who surfed on an ice sheet he created just in front of his surfboard, whatever his name was.

I'm thinking that perhaps Euryale's ability gets more intense when she's aroused by her passions--so that, in this case, Monica was superfrozen, coming out with a temp far below the melting point. It's that extra degrees of frost that led the water around her to freeze. But the question about melting, freezing and reshaping the person, and then reviving them is an interesting one. If it worked, it might be a handy sort of magical plastic surgery . . .

CraigR · Post by **CraigR** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 11:09 am

Bathorys Daughter wrote:
CraigR wrote:They better hurry, or Monica is gonna lose her toes and fingers. The smallest bits melt first.

This has been bothering me for a while: Could Euryale freeze someone, let them melt, collect the water, pour it in an ice mold shaped like the person, freeze it, and then revive them?
One thing I don't get is why did the water freeze?

I think when someone is is frozen they are just very cold. Cold enough to freeze the surrounding water.

Mark N · Post by **Mark N** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 11:43 am

CraigR wrote:They better hurry, or Monica is gonna lose her toes and fingers. The smallest bits melt first.

This has been bothering me for a while: Could Euryale freeze someone, let them melt, collect the water, pour it in an ice mold shaped like the person, freeze it, and then revive them?

Thanks, now my head hurts from trying to see all the possibilities of that. Talk about a make over.

Opus the Poet · Post by **Opus the Poet** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 12:00 pm

Jabberwonky wrote:Is this going to be an ongoing problem with our favorite gorgon?

See: running gag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_gag