Know What This Means 2014-10-13

[oldmanmickey]

So, Atsali is going to sing to the boy, and dump him if he responds.

Is it just me, or does this sound a little twisted to the rest of you?

It is kinda self defeating. the boy in question may not have had time to fall in love with her. I knew my current wife a while before i realized i loved her.

[lake_wrangler]

So, Atsali is going to sing to the boy, and dump him if he responds.

Is it just me, or does this sound a little twisted to the rest of you?

It is kinda self defeating. the boy in question may not have had time to fall in love with her. I knew my current wife a while before i realized i loved her.

Worst case scenario, yes that is a lousy way to do it. And that may be in part responsible for the sirens' bad rep.

Hopefully, she only uses it to confirm the genuineness of someone's feelings towards her, once those feelings have been expressed.

[zachariah]

I took the hearts to mean that Nadette loves her sister.
Berdine will do almost anything to protect Nadette and Nadette appreciates it.
Sisterly love and not erotic love.

Agreed. Nadette loves Berdine despite the big sister bossing she does. The kiss completed the lesson Berdine received from this lesson and Nadette looks at her with the loving smile that says, "Okay, you figured it out yet? Or do I need to draw you a map." in response to Berdines comment that indicates she is complaining about how Sali treated her and confused her.

More concern is where Sali is going and what she is likely to do. I hope she is not planning to use her voice to check out if the boy likes her? That isn't fair to anyone and almost certain to fail. Mostly it takes time for infatuation to become love. Most boys in HS won't reconize love if it came out and bit them, most girls as well to be honest.

[Catawampus]

And there are a lot of our questions answered. To be replaced by even more new ones.

Actually, what I got from reading today's comic is that she thought her dad was an incubus, because the siren song had no effect on him, but now realizes that it was actually because he was truly in love with her mom (strong emotion), and she therefore could not apply the song to him.

I would expect Atsali to at least have known what species her father was. It's not as though she's like Shelly, somebody from whom the whole paranormal side of the world (and of her heritage) was initially being hidden.

I get the impression that Paul likes to show us what his characters are feeling so when ever I see the hearts floating about I think of 'agape' rather than the other expressions of love.

Seeing as how some of the recent use of little floating hearts included from Monica directed towards Dietzel and from Castela directed towards Katherine, I'd certain hope that the hearts could at least sometimes symbolise something other than romantic interest. . .

It is kinda self defeating. the boy in question may not have had time to fall in love with her.

Yeah, if she tries to test for strong emotions a guy who she's apparently barely even spoken to, then that's not likely to have good results (I wonder if raging lust would count as a strong emotion?). Hopefully she's just thinking that she can use it as a sort of final test for future romantic prospects, after having dated them for some time and had them profess feelings for her and so on.

[zachariah]

Siren plus Incubus, what a combination. Demonic power combined with hypnotic voice. Be glad Sali is a good girl, or succubus. I wonder which she got more of? So far she has the body but not the features to go with either. They are supposed to be inhumanly beautiful and attractive and Sali does not fit that description, yet. Might never in fact. This also implies a large sex drive as well.

This also makes me wonder about the demon connection. Demon's live inside people and normally do not exist outside of people's mind. The rules clearly state they can only affect the person they are assigned to. Tina and Connie are exceptions, not the normal. So how did Sali's mom run into a male demon existing on earth and who fell in love with her? Wouldn't the Sphinx's have been hunting for him?

[eee]

Siren and Incubus? I wonder if that's a common combination in the paranormal community or if Atsali is unique.

I also wonder how and when she lost her parents. I believe this is the first indication that she was old enough to have gotten to know them before they died. Which adds a bit of poignancy to her cry for her mother when the underground complex came down during her and Kath's Big Adventure.

Further, I wonder where she's going, and how the girls got onto the island. I assume they used the Library's Vorporter, but how would they use it to get back? Stand in a clear area and shout "Library! Beam us up!"?

[Dave]

So, Atsali is going to sing to the boy, and dump him if he responds.

Is it just me, or does this sound a little twisted to the rest of you?

It is kinda self defeating. the boy in question may not have had time to fall in love with her. I knew my current wife a while before i realized i loved her.

I think Atsali may be more cheerful, over the long-term implications of what she has just learned. Up until now, Atsali seems to have believed that she didn't have much chance of having a "real" relationship.

At least, now, she has hope. According to what Nadette says, a genuine, loving relationship is at least possible for her.

In order for it to happen, she'll have to be careful to not-use her Siren's power on any potential suitors, and be the sort of person that the guy in question will fall in love with "naturally". Based on what she said to Berdine, it's clear she'd already decided to do the former, and the latter means just being the best Atsali she can.

So, what it seems to mean, is that she'd decided to "take the high road" in her dealings with her classmates... to visibly and obviously turn away from "stereotypical sexual-predator Siren" behaviours... and she's just learned that this "high road" is probably the best way for her to have a chance at having a real, honest, loving romantic relationship. She had decided to do the right thing, for the right reason... and has just found that there might be a prize in the Crackerjack box after all.

No wonder she's happy.

So, no, I don't think she's going to dash back to school and sing "Show me that you love me" to the cute guy she barely knows... not now and likely not for a long time, if ever. If she did, and he wasn't already in love with her, it would wreck the relationship completely, cut off any hope that real love might develop... and would probably end up reawakening the rumor-mill and confirming the story that Atsali is "just another slutty Siren".

[Tenjen]

i think we have to consider the fact that she's an orphan. The parents story did not end happily for some reason D:

[Atomic]

I have the mental image of Atsali absent-mindedly humming to herself in study hall or such, and everybody in earshot....

[chicgeek]

School Counselor #1: "Finally got the new girl's schedule worked out! Math, english, gym, history, chemistry, and choir."
School Counselor #2: "CHOIR? ARE YOU INSANE?!"
School Counselor #1: "What? She needs an elective and I can't just dump her in band. How about theater? That could be fun for her. They're working on a musical this year!"
School Counselor #2: *repeatedly headdesks*

And yeah ,I think the floaty hearts are sisterly affection.
And that Atsali is just happy that now she has a way to know if someone really loves her. But ooh, boy, could it backfire. I mean, just because a boy loves you doesn't mean he still won;t respond lustfully to her song. Plus, either way,he could be pissed off afterwards. "You didn't trust me and had to put me through some kind of Siren test?! We're through!"

[illiad]

Part of the 'problem' may be with the English word "love". Greek has four words that get translated as "love" in English. I get the impression that Paul likes to show us what his characters are feeling so when ever I see the hearts floating about I think of 'agape' rather than the other expressions of love.

well the *english* is quite different... http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/agape

[Atomic]

A-Ga'-pe vs A-Gape'

[Warrl]

Yeah, Shadow beat me, but I was distracted by some hockey.



...What? Get your sicko minds out of the gutter!

That would be if you had said "baseball".

Anyways - an "incubus". Wonder if he was any relation to Drusilla.

Shoulda given a link to Drusilla. And not in the middle of one of the Shakespeare chapters. This is possibly the best one.

[Warrl]

Part of the 'problem' may be with the English word "love". Greek has four words that get translated as "love" in English.

And it doesn't look to me like any of the four would be the obvious choice in translating the sentence "I love strawberries.".

(This is of course assuming that "strawberries" is not a person's nickname.)

[Sidhekin]

Clearly erotic.

Mhm.

[zachariah]

Part of the 'problem' may be with the English word "love". Greek has four words that get translated as "love" in English.

And it doesn't look to me like any of the four would be the obvious choice in translating the sentence "I love strawberries.".

(This is of course assuming that "strawberries" is not a person's nickname.)

The greeks had their thought together. We are stuck with one word with multiple meaning. Between humans it generally falls into eros or agape. We can all figure out what eros is about. Agape is where fall the other meanings. Which basically means unconditional love, which is what we give to others who we are not jumping into bed with. Children, parents, friends, etc. You could even include rock stars. For one of the better discussions by an author about both I would suggest "Time Enough For Love" by Heinlein.

[jwhouk]

So - what would the consensus be if Wapsi Square became all about Atsali, the Ursa Twins, Calista (aka "Cricket"), Castela (aka "Pickle") and their supernatural adventures?

[lake_wrangler]

Part of the 'problem' may be with the English word "love". Greek has four words that get translated as "love" in English.

And it doesn't look to me like any of the four would be the obvious choice in translating the sentence "I love strawberries.".

(This is of course assuming that "strawberries" is not a person's nickname.)

The greeks had their thought together. We are stuck with one word with multiple meaning. Between humans it generally falls into eros or agape. We can all figure out what eros is about. Agape is where fall the other meanings. Which basically means unconditional love, which is what we give to others who we are not jumping into bed with. Children, parents, friends, etc. You could even include rock stars. For one of the better discussions by an author about both I would suggest "Time Enough For Love" by Heinlein.

I would tend to disagree on the English language only using two of the meanings. Agape is a self-sacrificial kind of love, which goes beyond just friendship and brotherly love (phileos).

You know, kinda like: "I love you bud, you're my bro! ... But don't expect me to take a bullet for you..." As opposed to "Let her go, take me hostage instead! I'll do anything, just don't hurt her!"

[Catawampus]

Siren plus Incubus, what a combination. Demonic power combined with hypnotic voice. Be glad Sali is a good girl, or succubus. I wonder which she got more of? So far she has the body but not the features to go with either. They are supposed to be inhumanly beautiful and attractive and Sali does not fit that description, yet. Might never in fact. This also implies a large sex drive as well.

This also makes me wonder about the demon connection. Demon's live inside people and normally do not exist outside of people's mind. The rules clearly state they can only affect the person they are assigned to. Tina and Connie are exceptions, not the normal. So how did Sali's mom run into a male demon existing on earth and who fell in love with her? Wouldn't the Sphinx's have been hunting for him?

Keep in mind that popular culture also has vampires being unable to stand sunlight, the Gorgons as bloodthirsty hideous killers, golems as stocky clumsy automatons, and so forth. I wouldn't get too invested in the traditional depiction of incubi when pondering the ways of Wapsi Square. Atsali's father may have had demons in him, the same as Calista does, but I doubt that he was a demon himself in this setting's meaning of the term.

I suppose that he could be a demon in the Christian lore sense of the term and not in the Wapsi one, though we haven't really seen much of that sort of thing in this comic.

[illiad]

be careful when you use the word gape... about as dangerous as talking about Vic20 to a german...