Wapsi Square Forum

It would be really interesting to figure out just how much faster Phix can run by using her wings to generate enough lift to negate the vast % of her weight, whilst still being able to made solid purchase with the ground. Would she modulate the lift to decrease it when feet were in contact with the ground an increase it when in the air?

well that musing is gonna keep me busy for a while.

zachariah wrote: Rah, Rah, Ree,
Flee nudge, flee
Rah, Rah, Ras,
Phix eats your ass.

Nudge has flees?

Miklós Rózsa's "Hellbound Concerto" (although theramini things about the latter which don't fit).

Hm hm... *points menacing at punjar for Daves' shrudely mixing-in of an obscure instrument that was the mainstay of mány a sci-fi and horror movie in the 40's and 50's*

Still. To me it's Benny Hill (with some "meep, meep's" mixed-in for good measure). Many a "gata" ran after him, though they never looked as angry as Phix does now.
Yeah kitty-kat... Truth hurts.

Nudge would make a good, be it somewhat exhausting, therapist...

Other musical options? Jarre's "Magnetic Fields part I" For the super-nervous arpeggiator and drum-line. And the drum-less quiet parts for when Nudge quickly switches corners and takes a breather. All of it on a somewhat sad chord sequence. Fitting for the pretty sad history of Phix.

Phix' anger actually fills me with a empathic sadness for her, really. She has been ignoring her actual feelings. Nudge knows it, and pulls them out of her, with the risk of a pounding.

It also looks&sounds like an odd "Nudgean" form of redemption for her manipulating Phix into the prison that the Library was for her, while Phix was innocent of what Nudge assumed Phix did.

So, Nudge goes out of her way to set wrong things right, even if it kills her (as a manner of speech, since librarians cannot be harmed within the walls of the Bibliotheki.)

Again, it is a story about redemption. Jin, Phix, Nudge.. Áll of them trying to right past wrongs, nót always in the best way, but they try. There's honour in the trying and sometimes failing.

Phix is showing no signs of cracking. I'm really curious to see what brings her back to her senses. But one thing I know for sure... weekends around here are agonizing.

You know, I so, sooo, sooooooo want this stupid thing to backfire something fierce on Nudge. Preferable not by hurting Nudge, but by rendering Phix feral and unresponsive for a long, long time, so that Nudge FINALLY has to think about how *she* treats people.

Unfair to Phix? Maybe. But I want Nudge to fail.

See, there's a big problem with tricksters. They're so convinced they know stuff better than others that they're overriding anothers person automy for their own good. Tricksters giving you the info you need, nor a choice nor are they respecting - in that regard there isn't much difference between Nudge pushing people around and Bia pushing people around. A toy's a toy, it doesn't matter much that Nudge's convinced what she does is the best for that toy.

Euralye did the right thing when she yelled at Monica for dropping Shelly; she's made her point honestly and in a way that preserved Monica's choice. Nudge in the same situation woulda teased and hurt Monica till she broke. It's such a shitty way to teach. Eventually there's no difference between hurting people for shits'n'giggles and "for their own good" and frankly, I personally feel that Nudge has crossed into that no-difference area a long time ago.

shadowinthelight wrote:

Dave wrote:Any other suggestions?

This.

"Here comes another one..."
(If you get that joke)

Hi,

Using this one to stand for all the similar sentiments I've been reading for the past few days...

Yeah kitty-kat... Truth hurts.

Y'all must be smarter than I am, because I don't see this at all. It seems to me the things Nudge has been saying are pretty blatantly untrue. I think Phix cares a great deal for Monica and Shelley, at least. Maybe this is my dislike of Nudge coming through, but I always thought her "I just tell the truth" was cover for being... well, an asshole. If she's trying to make the point that Phix is afraid of getting close to people (which I believe to be true, and which Phix seems to have passed on to Shelley), there are several tacks she could've taken that wouldn't have her running for her life. Maybe she just can't help being malicious? I dunno, but that's been bugging me.



P.S. 1st post, hooray!

Opus the Poet wrote:

shadowinthelight wrote:Am I the only one hearing the Benny Hill music?

That would be "Yakity Sax" by Boots Randolph, and I have that on my MP3 player.

And if you don't know, listen to the original here! (And even more uptempo than Benny Hill!)

Phix and Nudge have at least 10 millennia of mutual grief baggage to dump on each other. The hardest part of defusing (not deflecting) anger is getting the angry person to see outside the box -- to see another viewpoint. Phix has developed a set of absolutes within a society of absolutes. Her rage is not only justified by the rules she's following, but by the threat to those rules as well.

Somewhere, there is a Tina (Nudge) strip about getting people to see more. Tina did it on the sly. Nudge is now doing it with a Clue-by-four!

shadowinthelight wrote:Am I the only one hearing the Benny Hill music?

no you right i am hearing it as well in this argument nudge trying to make her see reason and why phix is the way she is bad for her well being..

and oh nudge you better run faster because she looks like she ready to take flight

The Old Wolf wrote:Phix is showing no signs of cracking. I'm really curious to see what brings her back to her senses. But one thing I know for sure... weekends around here are agonizing.

Yes, yes they are. I'm hoping that next week we DON'T run off on a a silly tangent. I'm dying to see what happens.

foilgirl82 wrote:Hi,

Using this one to stand for all the similar sentiments I've been reading for the past few days...

Yeah kitty-kat... Truth hurts.

Y'all must be smarter than I am, because I don't see this at all. It seems to me the things Nudge has been saying are pretty blatantly untrue. I think Phix cares a great deal for Monica and Shelley, at least. Maybe this is my dislike of Nudge coming through, but I always thought her "I just tell the truth" was cover for being... well, an asshole. If she's trying to make the point that Phix is afraid of getting close to people (which I believe to be true, and which Phix seems to have passed on to Shelley), there are several tacks she could've taken that wouldn't have her running for her life. Maybe she just can't help being malicious? I dunno, but that's been bugging me.
P.S. 1st post, hooray!

1st, Welcome ye faithful

Sure, Nudge's goading seems self-serving, be it somewhat suicidal. She míght, on a deeper level, relish the poking, but there's a lot more going on.
Nudge is a trickster, but is múch more about insights in oneself. Like most tricksters, she dishes-out deeper wisdoms, allthewhile pulling one's leg. Every trickster-story is about learning a man, or woman more about him/herself by (mis)using certain unpleasant characteristics of that person. It's up to the subject to learn from the experience.

That's the whole point.
Phix is stuck in her position as ApexPredator, and is not used to questioning her convictions. Even her "pacifism" is an unbudging truth to her.

What Nudge is doing, is using the ónly way to jolt Phix out of her arrogance. Phix isn't arrogant out of maliciousness, fár from it, but more out of an inate conviction she's right, because "might makes right"

Phix would nèver accept a tête a tête that questions her motives, despite the fact that it would mean a peaceful solution towards her hang-ups.
Nudge uses a sort of "confrontational therapy". It is especially developed to get a person to confront truth through letting his/her anger take over, and thusly letting it burn at the highest Setting, burning away áll layers of conscious and sub-conscious limits that hinder trúe insights and acceptance of the "Ich and Über-Ich" and their influence one one's self-image.
Only detail missing here, is Phix spitting-out her grievances. In thát part Nudge's approach is not working very well, given the mouth-foaming rage Phix is showing

Basically, Phix néeded to be confronted with the fact that her suave "librarian" persona, is but a shell, and that there is móre to the persona of "Phix".

Someone once said: Once You knów the beast inside well enough to point it out and keep down, thén, and ónly thén, can One be considered "civilized"

Ask ány veteran that has been in the thick of it. Those that came out fine, agreeable and, plainly sympathetic people, are thóse that have finally accepted the beast inside, and have made a conscious choice to néver éver let it out again.
A philosophy that can lead to gréat things! (Ask a modern-day German, and their refusal to get too deeply involved in international conflicts)

No, Nudge is fár from callous, or just "trolling". Nudge tries to catch two flies with one stroke. : Get Phix' rage to move her forward, while defending her friends, éven if it could mean a serious pounding.


"I make people look at themselves in a different way, even if they might not like it" (cannot quickly enough find the original quote though)
It's the way a góod therapist does his/her job. (I am from a family of psychologists & Psychiatrist, so I look at this whole Nudge vs. Phix, in a rather different light. I see the principles of good therapy at work here.)

Pfieuuuww! *wipes sweat from brow* looong story.. Sowwy..

chibichibi01 wrote:

The Old Wolf wrote:Phix is showing no signs of cracking. I'm really curious to see what brings her back to her senses. But one thing I know for sure... weekends around here are agonizing.

Yes, yes they are. I'm hoping that next week we DON'T run off on a a silly tangent. I'm dying to see what happens.

Don't jinx it!
(you know how he likes to tease us)

I am with Jabber here... Please let it calm down befóre the Weekend... otherwise i'd have to pillage my sis' tranquilizer stash...

*puts on Swami turban*
I'm getting a vision, the misty veil parts...
I see Nudge running down a blind alley, Phix slowly stalking up to her, a low growl coming from her. Nudge, back against a finely mitred stone wall, Phix's talons leaving striped shadows across her face...and Monday, the Tina collective arguing over whether to indulge in Bekka's pastries or the salad they brought from home...the veil closes...

*wipes sweat off forehead*
Jay-Em, you said something about tranquilizers?

@jay-em

I'm not sure where you are from, but here a therapheut working against the interest, the trust and consent of his/her patient is due for a pretty serious mal-practice trial. Phix clearly hasn't given consent, nor is she trusting Nudge considering how much she hates her for getting her stuck in the library.

It's Nudge right now that uses Phix as pondscum to experiment on. There's a reason that tricksters usually end up being villians.

Nudge is just going to keep on, and on, and on, until Phix finally speaks up. That moment, when she finds her words, will be the breakthrough. Phix will realize that she is capable of going beyond her so-called programming, whatever she thinks is hard-wired into her being, maybe that she already has and hasn't realized (or admitted to it) yet.

Jay-Em wrote:

foilgirl82 wrote:Hi,

Using this one to stand for all the similar sentiments I've been reading for the past few days...

Yeah kitty-kat... Truth hurts.

Y'all must be smarter than I am, because I don't see this at all. It seems to me the things Nudge has been saying are pretty blatantly untrue. I think Phix cares a great deal for Monica and Shelley, at least. Maybe this is my dislike of Nudge coming through, but I always thought her "I just tell the truth" was cover for being... well, an asshole. If she's trying to make the point that Phix is afraid of getting close to people (which I believe to be true, and which Phix seems to have passed on to Shelley), there are several tacks she could've taken that wouldn't have her running for her life. Maybe she just can't help being malicious? I dunno, but that's been bugging me.
P.S. 1st post, hooray!

1st, Welcome ye faithful

Sure, Nudge's goading seems self-serving, be it somewhat suicidal. She míght, on a deeper level, relish the poking, but there's a lot more going on.
Nudge is a trickster, but is múch more about insights in oneself. Like most tricksters, she dishes-out deeper wisdoms, allthewhile pulling one's leg. Every trickster-story is about learning a man, or woman more about him/herself by (mis)using certain unpleasant characteristics of that person. It's up to the subject to learn from the experience.

That's the whole point.
Phix is stuck in her position as ApexPredator, and is not used to questioning her convictions. Even her "pacifism" is an unbudging truth to her.

What Nudge is doing, is using the ónly way to jolt Phix out of her arrogance. Phix isn't arrogant out of maliciousness, fár from it, but more out of an inate conviction she's right, because "might makes right"

Phix would nèver accept a tête a tête that questions her motives, despite the fact that it would mean a peaceful solution towards her hang-ups.
Nudge uses a sort of "confrontational therapy". It is especially developed to get a person to confront truth through letting his/her anger take over, and thusly letting it burn at the highest Setting, burning away áll layers of conscious and sub-conscious limits that hinder trúe insights and acceptance of the "Ich and Über-Ich" and their influence one one's self-image.
Only detail missing here, is Phix spitting-out her grievances. In thát part Nudge's approach is not working very well, given the mouth-foaming rage Phix is showing

Basically, Phix néeded to be confronted with the fact that her suave "librarian" persona, is but a shell, and that there is móre to the persona of "Phix".

Someone once said: Once You knów the beast inside well enough to point it out and keep down, thén, and ónly thén, can One be considered "civilized"

Ask ány veteran that has been in the thick of it. Those that came out fine, agreeable and, plainly sympathetic people, are thóse that have finally accepted the beast inside, and have made a conscious choice to néver éver let it out again.
A philosophy that can lead to gréat things! (Ask a modern-day German, and their refusal to get too deeply involved in international conflicts)

No, Nudge is fár from callous, or just "trolling". Nudge tries to catch two flies with one stroke. : Get Phix' rage to move her forward, while defending her friends, éven if it could mean a serious pounding.


"I make people look at themselves in a different way, even if they might not like it" (cannot quickly enough find the original quote though)
It's the way a góod therapist does his/her job. (I am from a family of psychologists & Psychiatrist, so I look at this whole Nudge vs. Phix, in a rather different light. I see the principles of good therapy at work here.)

Pfieuuuww! *wipes sweat from brow* looong story.. Sowwy..

Well said. I think there's another element here, too. Phix, in her own bloody way, was having herself a pity party when Nudge wandered in.

"Monica didn't need to see that."

Phix thinks she's alienated Shelly at this point, and with her senses would have heard Monica's scream and Eyrale comforting her, even while she was neck deep in 'Splody Head's ribcage. She knows Monica is terrified of her now. From her perspective, two people who mean a lot to her now want nothing to do with her, so she was busy building up walls around her heart (Because she could not fill the chasm, sorry, couldn't stop myself) and Nudge is busy tearing them back down, accusing Phix of being everything she WANTS to be very badly right now. Nudge knows Phix isn't the emotionless killing machine she's accusing her of being.

Remember, Nudge saw Phix cry.

Phix is so mad because it hurts so much.

Jay-Em wrote:

Miklós Rózsa's "Hellbound Concerto" (although theramini things about the latter which don't fit).

Hm hm... *points menacing at punjar for Dave' s rudely mixing-in of an obscure instrument that was the mainstay of mány a sci-fi and horror movie in the 40's and 50's*

(placates the Pun Jar with the gift of a silver flute)

To acknowledge the other half of the joke... the "Spellbound Concerto" was probably the first piece of "serious" music to make integral use of a theramin as part of a full orchestration. Not an easy thing to do... you play the thing by waving your hands in the air next to a pair of antennas, to control the pitch and volume, with no mechanical "feel" or feedback at all. It takes real skill and eye-hand-ear coordination to play any sort of tune, let alone play along with an ensemble.

Come to think of it, Nudge may actually have some applicable experience... between the stereo handwaving which dissolved Justin and Shelly's shadow-clothing, and the emotional handwaving she's using on Phix...

The one time I tried playing a theremin, I ended up qualifying for membership in the Portsmouth Sinfonia (and their version of the William Tell Overture might be a good candidate for his week's trickster-chase).

shadowinthelight wrote:Am I the only one hearing the Benny Hill music?

Hmmm... maaaybe?

Train to the zone! Cue the music!

Boxilar wrote:Remember, Nudge saw Phix cry.

Phix is so mad because it hurts so much.

Anger is a lot easier to deal with than heartbreak...