Wapsi Square Forum

Heh... try it out on the little sister first.

As I said yesterday, experiments are what siblings are for.

Well that's a single sample. We need a larger test bed here. I mean for all we know, her abilities just don't work on plants!

(obviously I'm just being ridiculous )

Congratulations Atsali, you tried something and...it didn't work. Precisely as planned.

Testing, testing, 1 2 3 ...

Ahem.

"ALL YOU BASE ARE BELONG TO US!"

...

No?

Ok -- good. Never mind. Carry on as you were.

Kid sisters - shooting elder siblings down since the Paleolithic.

MerchManDan wrote:Congratulations Atsali, you tried something and...it didn't work. Precisely as planned.

How do you test the safety feature? Obviously you have to do something that would cause it to engage (whatever that may mean for the specific safety feature in question). Hopefully something that will be reasonably safe even if the safety feature doesn't work.

It's a common problem.

WARNING..... WARNING.... WARNING.....

This is a test of the Atsali broadcast system. Had this been a real broadcast, you would have been instructed exactly what to do by Atsali.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Warrl wrote:It's a common problem.

Dagnabbit, I was just about to point out Atsali's method seemed a little Tedd-ish.

Oh, Atsali... nothing trumps the power of dessert...

Radio365 wrote:Well that's a single sample. We need a larger test bed here. I mean for all we know, her abilities just don't work on plants!

(obviously I'm just being ridiculous )

No, I had that though as well.

But .... Atsali thinks this is a successful test .... so, just maybe, early on in their time together at the orphanage Atsali *DID* use her siren's song on Castela (probably accidentally) and it affected Castela. [that might be why Castela was paired with her on Library visits? Atsali could 'control' a wild Castela?]

On someone as young as Castela, I suspect the result would be parental/child and/or sibling love?

And now, after all their time together, Castela see Atsali as family she (genuinely) loves and Atsali's siren song doesn't work.

The real heartbreak is going to be when it effects someone she was sure it would not.

oldmanmickey wrote:The real heartbreak is going to be when it effects someone she was sure it would not.

Like Momma Katherine?

No i think she does love her. Some of her "aunts" maybe.

jeffepp wrote:As I said yesterday, experiments are what siblings are for.

Little sisters can't ground you if things go pear-shaped.

Radio365 wrote:Well that's a single sample. We need a larger test bed here. I mean for all we know, her abilities just don't work on plants!

You mean that while Atsali was performing her magic trick, there was a plant in the audience?!

MerchManDan wrote:Congratulations Atsali, you tried something and...it didn't work. Precisely as planned.

It's funny how often failure is the key to progress in experimentation.

AnotherFairportfan wrote:Kid sisters - shooting elder siblings down since the Paleolithic.

From the Paleolithic to the Neophytic!

oldmanmickey wrote:The real heartbreak is going to be when it effects someone she was sure it would not.

I don't know if that would be terribly likely at the moment. She already knows that of her two closest friends, one isn't immune and the other isn't affected due to other circumstances. That didn't seem to upset her much. I think that she's less close to her aunts than she is to the twins, so it's not going to be a big shock if Monica or Bud falls for her spell (though it's quite possible that some of her aunts would be immune due to other supernatural reasons). I would be very surprised if Katherine didn't have strong feelings about Atsali, given all that we've seen of their interactions.

That would mainly just leave various boys (or girls, if she ends up going that way) who she is interested in.

What will be interesting is when she discovers somebody who has strong emotions about her, and those emotions aren't love, or at least aren't a healthy version of love.

Catawampus wrote:

jeffepp wrote:As I said yesterday, experiments are what siblings are for.

Little sisters can't ground you if things go pear-shaped.

Maybe not, but they can sure let their mother know...

Catawampus wrote:

Radio365 wrote:Well that's a single sample. We need a larger test bed here. I mean for all we know, her abilities just don't work on plants!

You mean that while Atsali was performing her magic trick, there was a plant in the audience?!

Are you kidding? You do realize we're talking about Castela, right? The thorn plant, daughter of the wood, a Whatsit (a mix of animal and vegetal components)? Although my guess would have been that if it didn't work on her for a reason other than that of strong feelings, it might have been due to her being a magical being of sort, rather than being a plant being...

Catawampus wrote:

MerchManDan wrote:Congratulations Atsali, you tried something and...it didn't work. Precisely as planned.

It's funny how often failure is the key to progress in experimentation.

At first, I was just looking for the quote on failure, by Thomas Edison... But the other quotes I found were quite interesting, too:

Goodreads wrote:“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” 
― Thomas A. Edison

“When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this - you haven't.” 
― Thomas A. Edison

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” 
― Thomas A. Edison

“Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.” 
― Thomas A. Edison

“Negative results are just what I want. They’re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don’t.” 
― Thomas A. Edison

Brainy Quotes wrote:Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.
Thomas A. Edison


When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes.
Thomas A. Edison

Pickle as a test subject is questionable.

1. Pickle is of the Blackthorn. Who knows what powers and resistance she has. She might very well be naturally immune to the siren song.
2. Little sisters do love big sister but often irritation is what is upper most in their minds. Especially when big sister is going through HS. Remember the scene when Pickle read Sali's diary?
3. The subject matter. It is a forgone conclusion that pickle loves deserts better than she loves Sali at dinner time. No matter what the reason a child will never willingly surrender their desert without some sort of deal.

While it looks like Sali's test worked, it cannot be assumed to validate what she wanted to test. Most of her Aunts are probably naturally immune as well when you think of it. Not to sure who would be a good test subject either. Everyone has some sort of condition that could render them immune naturally that Sali would think they loved her.

Monday Kathy comes and asks, "Alright what is going on NOW?"

zachariah wrote:Monday Kathy comes and asks, "Alright what is going on NOW?"

After a while, mothers tend to cut that down to a simple "Whatever you're doing, stop it."

zachariah wrote:Pickle as a test subject is questionable.

1. Pickle is of the Blackthorn. Who knows what powers and resistance she has. She might very well be naturally immune to the siren song.
2. Little sisters do love big sister but often irritation is what is upper most in their minds. Especially when big sister is going through HS. Remember the scene when Pickle read Sali's diary?
3. The subject matter. It is a forgone conclusion that pickle loves deserts better than she loves Sali at dinner time. No matter what the reason a child will never willingly surrender their desert without some sort of deal.

While it looks like Sali's test worked, it cannot be assumed to validate what she wanted to test. Most of her Aunts are probably naturally immune as well when you think of it. Not to sure who would be a good test subject either. Everyone has some sort of condition that could render them immune naturally that Sali would think they loved her.

I agree with 1 and 2, but not with 3: the whole point of the test was to see if Pickle was susceptible to the Siren song. Had she been susceptible to it, she would have had no say in trying to make any kind of deal. She would have been compelled to surrender her dessert.

Oh, and one more thing: I'm pretty sure Pickle likes sweet confections a lot more than vast, sandy wastelands... (Dessert <> Desert)